Au pair phones - Au pair contracts

[OVienna]

I'm sorry to link to a thread but I am curious as to what others think about an element of this issue.

We've always provided a cheap phone for our au pairs to use when dealing with us/our kids. They often bring their better phones from home as well - sometimes they're keeping their old number for various reasons or they might stick our SIM in there (I think.)

Do you think that it's being a bit pedantic to put something in the contract to state that their decision to use another much more expensive phone on the job is at their own risk?

It feels like it is. And to be honest, I really cannot imagine any of our previous au pairs pulling a stunt like the one described here and none of them has lost a phone. But on the other hand, you never know.

I would be curious what others think about this.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/2827093-AIBU-to-not-pay-to-repair-the-au-pairs-phone?noti=1&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=WatchedThreadNotification&utm_content=WatchedThreadNotification+ID_6555a97d-36be-430d-afc9-4fd402823fe9&utm_source=newsletters&utm_term=WWYD%20Train%20related#66260416

I don't think it's necessary

In our agreement we state we will give £10 per month to the phone bill and then suggest they get a Giff Gaff sim to put in their existing phone

All our au pairs use their own phones - their property, their risk

I give my an au pair a sim from ID Mobile (Carphonewarehouse) which I took out under my name under their advice as she has no credit history or UK bank account.

For £5/month, you get 250 minutes, 5000 texts and 1.5gb of data.

www.idmobile.co.uk/?_ga=1.139913589.714491194.1481701335

There is a maximum monthly cap you can set so she does not exceed the allowance by more than £5.

I don't think this is necessary and indeed would consider that the risk you run by including a specific clause about the AP's mobile phone would be that it implies you may be responsible to other personal items (e.g. damage to her clothes by dcs etc). I've read the other thread and it looks like a cheeky ask from the AP and every potential cheeky request by and AP can't be foreseen in a contract. I think this is one of those things that requires a good conversation rather than relying on a specific contractual term.

No it is completely unnecessary. Obviously the au pair is responsible for her own belongings.