Au pair pay

[sunnymum77]

Our au pair thinks that our pay - £100 a week, for 35 hrs a week plus babysitting, is too little. Au pair world says that babysitting is included (once during the week and once at the weekend), and that pocket money on average is £75-80 for 30 hrs a week. She is leaving in 3 weeks...do I up her pay for the 3 weeks, or just say that's the way to is? I had set out all the detail before she arrived, but she has been apparently told by other au pairs that the norm is £140 a week, and that we must add her hrs of babysitting. When she babysits I usually put the kids to bed and she sits in her room relaxing and doesn't have to do anything when we are out. On the odd occasion, she puts them to bed.
There have been several weeks when she has worked less, for example if I have been off work or we had family help, and we still paid her the full amount.
Views please!?

Why is she leaving? Is if because of the day, or was she due to leave angway?
I would stick to your guns if you're paying the going rate. Do the APs who get paid more do more?

She was always leaving then, we know when she arrived it was for 5 months. this is the first time she has mentioned anything about being unhappy with pay! Although the atmosphere has been a bit weird lately as she never talks to us...

I wouldnt pay her ant more then, if she's leaving anyway. But I woyld do some research before hiring the next AP.

Hi,
I agree with the pp that you shouldn't up this au pair's pay as she is leaving anyway.

But I do think that £100 pw for 35 hours is very low, I'm not sure if you offer any other perks. Au pair world (I recruit there too, have done for several years) is often very out of date with suggestions of pay. Standard au pair hours are 20-25. 35 hours is au pair plus territory which does require a bit higher pay.

I pay £100 pw for up to 25 hours, that includes two babysitings per week (Mon-Thur) any weekend babysitting is paid extra. We have one school aged child. And we also pay £30 towards her travel monthly and she can use our car. I think that is pretty average.

The fact that you paid her full amount when you didn't need her for all the hours is neither here nor there, if you agreed that she'd earn £100 pw then that is what she should get, whether you use all the hours or not.

No, babysitting should be included in her hours, it may be that she's confused as standard au pair hours are 25 + babysitting. I wouldn't put the children to bed on her babysitting nights either, unless they are very young or difficult to put to bed.

We currently pay £120/week for 25 hrs _ 2 nights babysitting, she has her own car and gym membership too.

I also think £100 is too low for 35hours, especially if you're in London where pocket money tends to be higher anyway. But if she's leaving anyway I wouldn't pay her more for that last 3 weeks.

Aupair pocket money is cheaper in London because it is more desirable to aupairs than living in the sticks or a suburb (demand and supply). The cost of the room is much more as well, compared to a room in a rural area, and makes up the difference.

If she is leaving, stick to your guns and pay her what she agreed to when she arrived.

£140 per week for 35 hours, including babysitting, in London? Maybe, it is on the high end, as you would expect if she is quoting other aupairs, but I won't be offering so much at the start. Only if she is superstar.

Thanks, what do you think is reasonable pay for 20 hrs a week plus 2 nights babysitting?

The problem is; au pairs don't do 20 hours. Just offer a standard au pair job.
They generally do 25 plus 2 x babysits. Pocket money depends on where you live, if they're an native English speaker, how old they are and how much experience they have.

Hmm, so what is usual for London, 25 hrs a week plus 2 babysitting? Quite good and improving English, and good experience with children?
Thanks

I'd say about £90 per week.

I'd say at least £100 unless with want an Aussie £140/week. Pocket money definitely seems to have gone up over the last 12 months, everyone I know with au pairs is paying more than they used to.

Have a look on gumtree - there's lots of ads for au pairs for London and most state pocket money.

We've offered £80 for 25 hours + 1 babysit and have had lots of interest.

I pay £90 per week (including 2 evenings babysitting) in suburbian London + monthly bus travelcard.
The next year I will cover part of the cost of English classes, but only because I am being nice :)
Mumsnet does not give you true and fair view of pay. Only mumsnetters tend to pay £100+ .

Cat: "Mumsnet does not give you true and fair view of pay. Only mumsnetters tend to pay £100+ ."

Agree with this.

Aupairs who advertise on gumtree are typically those who have already already been working in London/UK and think they command a premium because they are already in the country. Attitude is what makes an aupair a good aupair, not necessarily experience. I would offer standard non-mumsnet pay at the outset and only increase if the aupair shows she is engaged and trustworthy.

It's my experience that au pairs (and nannies) exaggerate their pay when talking to others about wages. They also forget to mention any perks they may have. They don't see travel costs/car, gym membership, own bathroom, nice holidays as perks! (I do understand that some au pairs/nannies have to work bloody hard when on holiday but most are just required for a few hours here and there and get to enjoy the sun and pool, can go off exploring and get to enjoy resorts/countries they would never get to see.)

I'd ring a couple of agencies in your area (as pay for au pairs is very much linked to the area) to check what they'd be suggesting as a level of pay if you looked for an au pair through them.

I wouldn't bother changing the current au pair's pay.

35 hours plus a week is au pair plus territory and as such would attract a higher than standard pay

I do think £100 is therefore too low

I have a 17-20 hour per week au pair role with every weekend free for £80-£85 per week (south east)

Thank you, that is good to know. It's very difficult when everyone says and thinks different things. We have had au pairs who are great and perfectly happy with the pocket money and have stayed 9 months-a year, but this one is dissatisfied and I think has an inflated idea of what au pairs typically do/don't do!
Thanks all

That sounds sounds very much on the low side for 35 hours. It would be acceptable if you were only asking for 25 hours though. For 35 hours I believe the going rate is 120-140

Cat and basilico - last year I would have agreed with you and I was possibly the only host parent I knew paying £100. This current year almost everyone is paying the same or more than me. Both my London friends give their au pairs £120 + travel card.

We had a situation where I live where an au pair wrote something about being exploited on a local Facebook forum - it was all very uncalled for and quite nasty, but she felt underpaid.

We've also had a couple of issues with au pairs moving to better paid positions half way through their contract.

I think it's a combination of a better economic situation, more working parents (who need childcare) and more exposure on social media. I'd rather pay a bit more and have a happy au pair.

I'm in Scotland (market town) - £65/week for about 25 hours (less in term time, more in hols, very clear about this in advance) . Plus in theory 2 eve babysitting, but in practice hardly ever used. Never had any complaints. We also provide some perks - gym membership, language class registration fee, young persons railcard, free WiFi, £10/month phone credit.

Very little travel costs where we live, which I imagine is quite different to London.

I've just realised that a different user name is coming up - I usually post under Karoleann.

Hi there, is there anyone in Aberdeen?
We're about to move there and I'm wondering what aupair pay is like there for about 30hrs per week to include babysitting (3 kids in school, 1 of those will be in nursery so until 12 only).
We used to live in Esher and paid our Eastern European (basic English) aupairs there 100/week which one was happy with, and the other wasn't.
I was chatting to one yesterday who asked me for 160?!???!! and her English wasnt' great and she had 1 aupair experience only.

We pay £80/week plus sole use of a car (she has to pay the petrol, it's just for her and not for transporting the children) and £5/month mobile. She does mon-thurs, fri-sun off and maybe one babysit a month max.
She's just demanded a pay rise of £30!!!

This is all really interesting. We are about to get our second au pair and i had a feeling the pay had risen in the last year.
We are in zone 3 london and currently pay 85 a week for 20-25h pw and 2 nights babysitting (one weekday and one weekend). We also pay for travel (she has an oyster card that gets topped up automatically) and we pay for her SIM contract at 17 a month.
She also gets great accommodation - own bathroom and kitchen.
I feel like the perks make up for the now relatively low pocket money of 85 pw but not sure if it will seem that way on paper.....
I have had one person say they want at least 100 as they are a trained nanny....
We are thinking of offering 90 basic plus the same perks this time.