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Paid childcare

Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

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Original poster

Anyone else finding it difficult to find an au pair this year

21 replies

bringonthesummer · 07/07/2017 19:33

As the title says ?
Just wondering other peoples experiences this year . We are usually overwhelmed by applicants on au pair world and have a good choice with agency . The agency have informed us hardly anyone wants to come to the UK .

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RelaxMax · 07/07/2017 19:44

Yes, it's all the Brexit uncertainty/fear of hostility towards foreigners apparently.

Puffthemagicdragongoestobed · 07/07/2017 20:08

I had several girls who stood me up from aupairworld. Arranged Skype interviews and then didn't bother to show up. They probably got inundated by families...
Luckily we have now found someone.
Have you reviewed your criteria? include male au pairs for example? I got plenty of requests from guys and had a good experience with a male au pair this year.

Original poster

bringonthesummer · 07/07/2017 21:34

Hi
Yes I have mainly only had male candidates on au pair world . The aganecy candidates have not been the usual standard or they have been snapped up by other families . Much harder than usual .

OP posts:

MrsFogi · 08/07/2017 23:40

Yes it's horrific this year. We usually have over 100 applicants this year it's us doing all the applying (to girls who have over 100 responses).

ImNotReallyReal · 09/07/2017 16:30

I've called it a day and am using breakfast and after school clubs. Au Pair world is a dud. London just isn't a popular destination this year.

I pay £130 a week with children in full time school, plus extras so it's not a money thing. It's not worth the bother of sharing my home. The school clubs cost the same and you don't need to attend to the staffs emotional needs or specific diets.

My AP room is going to be my home office, I'm moving in there on Thursday. It's the nicest room in the house

I love having an AP but this year it just seems too complicated.

Adelie0404 · 09/07/2017 16:36

I use A2z au pairs and yes used to get matched with 12 or so at a time, last time I got 4. Incidentally, we have a French girl who got abused when out last week and threatened - for being French and horror or horrors, black. It upset her and me. And don't get me started on the loss of eu medical stafff......!!!

TrainedGiant · 09/07/2017 20:59

We found it harder. Instead of the normal flood of applicants on AP World I had to do all the chasing and matching. Eventually we found someone but it was such hard work.

Bloody brexit.

roamingespadrille · 09/07/2017 21:02

We gave up. Decided to just carry on as we were.

Doobeedoobeedoo17 · 09/07/2017 21:15

Crap. Have just started looking and definitely noticed much fewer and less obviously good applicants than when I looked last time.

BlackAmericanoNoSugar · 10/07/2017 13:27

I did ok on APW in April, so it must be a UK thing (I'm in Dublin). There definitely aren't as many looking as there were 4 or 5 years ago though, back then I had the family profile up for 27 hours and had over 130 applications in that time, so I think the Spanish economy must be picking up a bit. There were enough applicants for me to get a good one though (a PE teacher, he's fab).

Puffthemagicdragongoestobed · 10/07/2017 19:12

Not sure if it's really Brexit related.. I put my profile on APW at the end of April and had lots of interest despite being quite restrictive in term of language skills. Due to personal reasons we had to put our aupair hunt on hold from mid may to mid June. I found there was a distinct difference between the last few weeks and back at the beginning of May. I wonder if it's also the recent terror attacks that have been putting people off coming to the uk?

GezFox · 19/07/2017 13:26

We have noticed it is much harder this year. Brexit, terrorism and improving Spanish economy all having an impact. Many au pairs want to go to Ireland or Scotland this year.

We just found one but we were in competition with 5 other families!

OVienna · 21/07/2017 11:02

I realistically need one for two to three more years, to see my younger daughter through primary school and first year of secondary. By that point, though, my older daughter will be of an age where she is possibly too close in age to girls wanting to be au pairs. And who knows then where we'll be with Brexit....!

I really find older au pairs trickier. The salary and hours we are offering are peanuts if they've left behind a 'real' job and most seemed to want to be able to work in another job as well. If they earn over a certain amount technically you should be registering as an employer. I guess we will have to consider this but to be honest it's not something I would be that willing to do unless the person could commit to two years. It's one thing to do all the admin for a nanny who speaks great English and has a long term commitment to your family and another thing to go through the aggro for someone who might leave after six months.

eightytwenty · 01/08/2017 22:15

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Peonylass · 04/08/2017 23:19

Ha, I'd just posted something about this in the parenting forum earlier today

I'm also struggling to find an au pair. I've only had one so far and it went quite well, but they went home for further study. We've apparently had a glowing reference to the agency from her.

The agency I'd used previously has said that they've had no cvs come through for weeks. I've tried a couple of other agencies but been turned down by the only one to respond, as they're not taking on new clients. I've been registered with two of the big au pair websites for a couple of months, and I'm on them every few days, but had nil response.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to where else to try? I'm still fairly new to this so only tried agencies last time I was looking.

OVienna · 05/08/2017 11:01

Do you think there is any confusion about whether Brexit has happened and/or they are not allowed to come here now? I wonder if there is some of this at play with the younger ones especially.

underneaththeash · 14/08/2017 08:25

OVienna - my au current Aussie has a second job and when I called up HMRC they said that as long as I pay under the threshold I didn't need register as an employer, she just needed to tell the other employer that it was her second job. I did ask for a copy of her first wage slip so that I could check that the tax code was correct though (it should say BR).

I've been helping a couple of friends find an au pair and there was a definite reduction in suitable candidates between June and July, it does seem to have picked back up though.

OVienna · 14/08/2017 11:07

Underneath that is good to know. I have PM'd you - I hope you don't mind.

ojalele · 16/09/2017 01:08

I live in an EU country and had trouble finding one too. I used to live in the UK, close to London, and I would be swamped with applications. I thought it was the fact our location now is less attractive.
Would have loved a british au-pair but I think Brexit has an effect the other way around too.

roses2 · 16/09/2017 14:27

I've just recruited my next au pair who is coming at the end of October.

There is definitely a significant reduction compared to 12 months ago and even 6 months ago.

I live in Zone 2 London in a great location near the tube & within 10 minutes of a very cheap English school.

This time round, I increased the salary by £15/week. I contacted over 100 au pairs and only found 1 who met my criteria. Most au pairs want a lot of holiday which I can't accommodate as I work full time.

I'll add that it took me 2 weeks to find the au pair however I did a lot of legwork myself. I started looking mid August and the start date is end of October.

Egis · 25/09/2017 10:36

Yes it was very hard for us too but luckily we have found a Spanish girl, 25, who is lovely:)
Hope she stays with us for a year!
Some au pair candidates very picky and even before an interview sent me lists of holidays and told me they had a few families interested in them and I was on the 'shortlist!'

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