Mothers help & Au pairs

[Jadefeather7]

I can’t seem to find much current info on on what the rate in London (suburbs) would be for a mothers help and au pair. In the summer I will have a new baby and a 14 month old and will likely need an extra pair of hands. I understand both options will not be experienced which is fine as I will be around all the time. Looking for 4-5 hours 5 days a week. We have a spare room but not an en-suite so not sure if that will make it difficult to get an au pair.
Does anyone know what the rate would be and would we be liable for taxes etc? I need to make sure I start saving for this now if I will have to pay tax as well. Thanks

I have an au pair and live in London. We don’t have an en-suite but that isn’t a problem and none of our au pairs friends have this with their host families either.

For 20 hours per week we pay:

• her Oyster card
• her English classes in full
• £120 pocket money per week
• all her food and basic toiletries (she can request items not on usual family shopping list)
• any necessary dental costs

Basically you need to treat your au pair financially as if she is a member of your own family - like an older child - and also pay pocket money. If ours does overtime, we pay that at £10 per hour.

Should add, you don’t pay tax for an au pair but you have to pay employers tax and employers pension contributions for a mothers help. It’s been a while since I used a mother’s help so can’t help on current hourly rates for this but I was paying £8 per hour about 10 years ago.

Thanks @katrinawaves Do you have a rough idea of the total month to month? By the way do you have any suggestions for best way to find an au pair?

I thought the mothers help rate might be £8 an hour these days as that’s the minimum wage but maybe not if that’s what it was 10 years ago!

I used an agency to find out au pairs. We’re in London so we used the London Nanny and Au Pair Agency.

I’d say we end up paying about £1000 a month made up of £480 pocket money, £250 for English classes, £60 ish for travel and then the other sundries.