How much to pay an au pair

[MiddleAgedMother]

We are - hopefully - about to hire a student in her 30s as a live in au pair. School pick up works well with her uni timetable.
We have to juggle a little to cover some early evenings but we really like her and she has child care experience and is au pairing only to help fund uni as was previously a nanny.
We don't need evenings or weekends.
Standard uk paid hols of 20 days plus public hols.
Lovely big room with ensuite and not on same floor as DC (youngest is 9).
Outer London Zone 4.
Duties are pick up youngest, dog walking, cook supper and odd jobs like taking in supermarket delivery.
What is the going salary?
Max is 25 hrs a week - we could go as low as 15 when her studies are critical to make it work but need some flexibility as DH and I both work full time.
Thanks.

Cross post, sorry!

karolean yes you're right I was confusing myself over the no sole charge, but either way there is no way this woman qualifies as an aupair so it's academic what aupairs get paid.

Also when working out how to offset accommodation from salary you don't simply subtract what you think a room would cost - it doesn't work like that

However OP you've clearly convinced yourself you're being reasonable and ultimately the nanny won't accept the job if the salary is too low but it can't help thinking you're totally taking advantage of this woman.

Also when working out how to offset accommodation from salary you don't simply subtract what you think a room would cost - it doesn't work like that

There is no reason why it wouldn't - minimum wage doesn't apply to somebody living as part of the family.

I usually come on to au pair threads to point out that au pairs aren't cheap nannies and shouldn't be treated as such. However I think in this situation the job is very much typical au pair duties.

Merrymouse - thanks again.
She is lovely and so I do want to be fair.
Could go to £150 if needed but - I have cleaner too and we are juggling to fit round uni hours if it's higher I would rather just pay more for a full time live in nanny/housekeeper and lose the cleaner and the juggling.

I think that sounds very generous!
Our new au pair has just started. She does 5 hours, 4 days a week, and sometimes less (so between 17-20 hours a week), plus 2 babysitting evenings. She has 2 Saturday nights off every month and babysits the others for us. Only very light housework like tidying toys, clearing up kitchen after giving children dinner, no cleaning. I don't understand how or why people are paying around £135 a week for 10 hours?! The typical au pair pocket money is £75 to £100 a week. Families that do this make it difficult for the families who don't want au pairs who are here just for the money. They are not employees, but it is becoming more and more about that and what they can get from the families. Often they don't realise that this is a 2 way relationship - we need to be happy about the quality of the work they do and secure in the knowledge that our children are being looked after well. It would help if they weren't glued to their phones 10 hours a day (including when they are meant to be responsible for the children)! It would also help if they remember to lock the front door when they go out so as not to invalidate your insurance cover of you get burgled. I just don't understand how the idea of a cultural exchange has spiralled into a money making scheme (with low quality in return), and way outside he guidelines set out on au pair world and the British association of Au Pair agencies...
Any ideas? Thanks

sunnymum77

It's the same everywhere. I see it here with the girls that come over. Their first question is 'what's the wage and benefits package" some are not happy with whats offered. They see it as a sort of hotel with some minor babysitting.I blame the younger generation and helicopter parenting

their first question is what's the wage and benefits package

That seems to be a fairly reasonable question don't you think? Most people don't work out of the goodness of their heart and I certainly wouldn't take a job without clarifying pay and benefits. All things being equal and also work for the employer paying me most. That's market forces.

OP surely your "aupair" has an idea of what she wants to be paid - what has she requested?

It's become a money making scheme and not a cultural exchange because the sad fact is there are many many British parents who use aupairs as domestic help/FT childcare whilst forgetting these are often very young people, away from home for the first time with no childcare experience who have a right to be treated as part of the family.

When that went out the window you had a "new breed" of older (20+) more experienced (in terms of childcare) and more savvy (in terms of rights and salary) aupairs that really did expect a two way relationship than being used as poorly paid substitute.

Whispering have you had Au pairs?

You're not including the fact it's full board so quite literally nothing to pay for, not even the stain remover to remove a stain from their clothes

In London, there are not many unqualified youngsters living in £M houses with £100 in the back pocket each week to spend on what they like after only doing some childcare, dishwasher loading, tidying and clothes washing.

In fact, if most households up and down the country had £100 per grown up absolutely spare per week after bills, tax, cars, gym etc that would mean no poverty and a household of 2 adults had £9,600 per year to put towards holidays, home improvement etc.

I just can't agree with your POV. It's a 1 year placement to improve your English and you have to earn your way through it. Just like everyone else...

Well I have offered £125 and she is delighted.
Was expecting less!

MiddleAgedMother Great stuff! Hope all goes well!

babymamaroon

its a one year placement to improve your english

Exactly! The OPs nanny appears to have good enough English to be on a London university course so IMO falls into a different category. She's a nanny in all but name and should be treated as such but I see my view is not the norm.

FWIW I've not had an au pair (spent an unhappy 4mths trying to recruit the right person but didn't work in end) however I've had both FT live in and live out nannies plus a mothers help and a housekeeper

Whisper - so in which case it's up to her whether or not she applies for a job that is far below her skill set and potential earning bracket. A bit like so many mothers who, post children undertake menial jobs to fit in around school hours etc.

On that basis, I understand where you're coming from but still would dispute the pay being too low and anyone being taken advantage of at an average AP weekly rate.

Middle aged - Glad it all worked out for you!! Good luck

Au pairs often come from English speaking countries.

However, even if this isn't an au pair arrangement, the minimum wage rules don't apply to people living as part of the family. Yes, people can and do a abuse domestic staff. However that really doesn't appear to be the case here.

And I'm saying that as somebody who was an au pair and knew many au pairs who were expected to be nannies.

I second what merrymouse said.

As an ex au pair and someone who still has a lot to do with that sector.

Thanks all - fingers crossed.

The au pair arrangement is very specific if you check the gov.uk website on au pairs you will see there are recommended limits for the 'pocket money' it's currently up to 85 per week - over that and the au pair can be liable for NI and tax so you need to be mindful of that.

No worries there as we use nannytax anyway - years of nannies so used to that.
I don't think there's NI or tax to pay at that level but will gross up if there is.

I agree with Whispering - it does sound like a nanny job rather than an au pair. She has done nannying before, and it seems unfair that you want to exploit a nanny by treating her as an au pair. Au pairs don't tend to have had proper nannying experience, and they come over to learn English. For nannies, you must pay minimum wage, but can take off an amount for accommodation. The maximum amount you can take off is currently set BY LAW at £37.45 per week. It doesn't matter whether you are giving her a room in Buckingham Palace - you can't take off more than £37.45 per week. So, to be fair, you should pay minimum wage minus the accommodation offset.

I don't get why people are outraged that au pairs want to know their pay and conditions - didn't you want to know this when you took a job?? I au paired when I was younger, and like everyone else, I had choices and took the best package I could get. In the same way that host parents choose the best au pair that they could get. Its just market forces! Pay peanuts, get monkeys. Pay well, get a good worker.