How much to pay au pair while I'm away for 4 days?

[HeartsTrumpDiamonds]

We have the most absolutely lovely au pair who has been with us since January (DD1 (12) DD2 (9) and me). She usually works 3.30 to 6.30 Monday to Friday, picking DD2 up from school and making dinner. I do mornings and everything after I get home in the evening eg finishing up on work, tidying, bedtimes etc. She also does on average one or two lots of babysitting per week. She gets £80 per week for this. We are in London.

I have a four day conference in May and will be away Tuesday morning to Friday afternoon. I am trying to work out how much to pay her. She will be doing everything- morning and afternoon school runs for DD2, supervising homework, meals, waking the girls up in the morning - 24 hour care while they are not at school.

Any advice or guidance on what to offer her would be great. My friend pays her live in nanny housekeeper £250 a week but that is not 24 hour care.

Nanny rates would be around £10, and I think you should pay her from when the kids get up until bed time. Or even NMW for those hours.

If you can afford it!

We pay our London au pair £95 for 25 hours plus babysittings. If I have to use her more then I pay £7 an hour for each hour worked plus I give money for things like a take away if she's worked a long afternoon/evening with no real break.

Sorry, I didn't notice the 24 hour bit. I would pay 7-7 or whatever hours the kids are awake.

Do you think £200 for the week (keeping in mind it's actually Tuesday to Fri afternoon) would be about right?

£200 for proxy parenting? £400/ £100 a day sounds about right. However it's not really an au pairs remit.

No, I know. We have talked about it and she has agreed & is comfortable with the idea. She is a bit older than your traditional au pair (she is 25) and has extensive nannying / au pair experience and I trust her completely.

This could get messy...

National Minimum Wage (or living wage) may apply. There is an accommodation offset which can be used as you are providing accommodation. What her pay will be will therefore depend on her age.
There is an exemption to NMW for au-pairs, where they are with you for cultural exchange, doing a bit of housework and occasional care for children in exchange for accommodation, food, pocket money and being treated as a family member.

You currently don't have to declare her earnings to HMRC, is that right? So by paying more, you will get to the point that you need to do that. By paying weekly, you will go over the amount at which you don't need to declare. If you paid monthly, then maybe it would be under the amount where that applies.

So maybe the answer is to not pay her more for this particular occasion but instead to raise the pocket money for a certain period of time, such that it still remains under the amount at which you would need to declare her earnings to HMRC... think that is £112 per week. So by doing this favour for you, you reward her by pocket money over a longer period than just those few days. Might that work?

Wow Cindy that is extremely helpful, thank you so much. I will do a bit more reading on gov.uk tomorrow!

I think £200 for Tuesday to Friday pm is about right. Especially as she would get £80 and room and board anyway.

Tuesday to Friday pm is approx 38 waking hours. 20 of those hours are paid by your £80 plus board, so you have approx 18 hours extra to pay. If you give £200 in total then that's £120 for 18 hours or £6.60 an hour. I'd give her that plus money for a take away and stock up on lots of her favourite foods etc.

For comparison when my friend's live in nanny does this she charges a certain hourly amount for waking hours and then a lower 'retainer' amount for the overnight bit - as she is still working in the non waking hours really, it isn't as if she can go and do something else and she does have responsibility for the kids.

Appreciate an au pair isn't the same but not sure it is correct to just think about waking hours as requiring pay

I think the idea of money for take aways . Treats for au pair ands kids . Taxi to Dr or a answer e maybe is something goes wrong .
So I would leave treats money which automatically pair does what she wants with and give her any left mouse eye when you get home.

Then give her some emergency money a bit more than normal.

Then look into what cindy said .