Au pair plus - how much ? English class?

[Cazz81]

I'm currently looking into hiring an au pair - to be precise an au pair plus as she/he can work up to 35hrs. Im wondering how much weekly pocket money do you give in the London area for looking after 1 kid? What other extra benefits do you give him/her on top of the weekly pocket money? Do you pay for the English course? Travel card?

Hi
I was an au pair to two families 1l5 years ago. I come from eastern block.
First family - Hated it .. mother was awful and we just didn't click.. I got paid £50 a week and had to save up for an English course. I babysat for them couple of nights a week for no extra money. There never was enough food in the house with four boys aged 2 to 10 she was just a tight woman. I lost a stone and I ran away after 4 months. .

Second family - lovely Italians with 2 boys, elder one had celebration palsy so it was not easy to look after him. They always included me in the mealtimes and it was always home cooked fresh food and generally made me feel like part of family. I loved it there, obviously. Stayed with them for a year.

All I would say to you try and help her/him to get into an English course and if any of your friends need house cleaning or anything for extra cash will always be appreciated .
Good luck x

We have had 2 au pair plus. Paid the first £120pw. She paid for her own language course and Oyster card. She did 2 full day's childcare plus general housekeeping on other week days plus 1 or 2 evenings babysitting pw. Total hours 35 ish.

2nd one we paid £90 pw plus gym membership. She did a few hours here and there childcare plus some basis housekeeping and ad hoc babysitting. Total hours 25 ish. She also paid for her own travel costs and didn't do a language course as her English was so amazing.

We are in london.

What is an au pair plus?

Ah looked it up: an au pair you pay buttons to for a nanny's job.

An au pair who gets more money for more hours trifleorbust. Is it such a tricky concept?

lunchboxtroubles: Yes, when the point of an au pair isn't that they are hourly paid - they should do light childcare and housework in return for a nominal salary. Paying them a nominal salary for full time hours is exploitation.

presumably everyone who works as an au pair plus is doing so with a gun to their head? Or maybe they think that the money on offer plus accommodation and board is perfectly reasonable for the hours offered. board and lodgings is a considerable perk.

I pay my au pair £100/week for up to 35 hours.

Some weeks she works 25 hours, some weeks she works 30 hours and some weeks she works 35 hours.

She pays for her own English language course (£100/month).

I buy all food within reason (breakfast, lunch & dinner, she buys her own snacks).

She gets 20 days holiday per year (paid).

She is not bad but not great. She spends most of her time playing on her phone instead of playing with the 2 boys after nursery. We have given her activities to do with the children & specifically asked her to sit down and play with them but we just don't see her doing it. We are looking to change when her contract is up in March. We will pay the same for the next one. This was our first au pair.

You'll probably find that the families that pay peanuts have high turnover of au pairs.

We don't pay for our AP's English classes we give her a good weekly rate and leave it up to her whether or not she wants to take English classes or not - some have and some have decided not to and some have done so for a part of their stay. I think the key is to make this clear up front - I tend to split out the total to state that £x is pocket money £x is for mobile, £x for travel, £x is a contribution towards English classes and that the total is £x which will all be paid to the au pair leaving her free to use more or less on e.g. travel/classes but that the one thing I do expect is that she will always be contactable on an English mobile number and that she will always have sufficient credit on her mobile to be able to contact me when she is out of the house with the dcs.

lunchboxtroubles: You don't have to be coercing someone in order to be exploiting them. You can exploit their naïveté, their poverty or their kindness. Au pairs are usually young, foreign and female for a reason - it allows them to be grossly underpaid by people who are unwilling or unable to pay for proper childcare.

The au pairs our friends have had are not young or naive. Mostly they are mid to late 20s, trainee or qualified teachers from Spain, unemployed and looking to improve their English to improve their chances of finding a job - either here or back home in Spain. They are very focused on that goal.

It is in part a cultural exchange. They become part of the family. They are not a servant nor an employee. They come to improve their English and learn about England.

I can see both perspectives, Trifle. I was an au pair in America years ago and loved it. Rubbish money, but I was totally included in family life - trips away, family holidays, meals out. I was treated like a niece and wasn't exploited at all. However, I do think some can be exploited - some posters on MN have au pairs and say things like they don't want the au pair to eat with them or sit with them in the evenings. They want a servant, not a family member. In that case, pay a nanny, as that is against the spirit of the au pair programme.