Au pair share in SW London

[DavDav]

I have a six month old and would some help but don't really need a 'full-time' au pair. A share with another family would be great. As I don't need after school care, a share with a school age family would probably be ideal. I don't know where to start looking. Do you have advice?

@DavDav

Try posting on here
nappyvalleynet.com/

There aren't many au pairs at the moment due to a combination of Bexit and Covid and they don't usually look after young children, but if you put au pair/nanny in your ad, you may have some success.
Otherwise, the agency sitters.co.uk can provide occasional home childcare and the sitters are experienced with the ages of children they're asked to look after.

An au pair share isn't a thing, and fairly certain it's illegal. What you need is a part time nanny, which needs to be paid hourly. An au pair is a young person that stays with a family for cultural experiences and they aren't allowed to have sole charge of kids under 2.

@Shelvesoutofbooks - sorry to hijack, but why can’t they have sole care of an under 2 year old? I’m planning to find an AP..if he/she can’t look after my youngest alone whilst I’m at work then it’s not going to be much help! Genuine question...

I’m not in the SW but the AP share is a great idea. Especially for the AP who would get a more varied experience & most likely more money! Again, didn’t know this was illegal?! In which law is this? I’m in the Midlands so probably too far to share?...

@Missingthesun they’re usually young people who come over to experience life in the U.K. they’re not training childcarers and it’s unwise leaving a young person with no experience/training with a non-verbal child who needs a lot of looking after.

It’s irrelevant at the moment as there are very, very few au pairs anyway mostly due to brexit. So legally, the only nationalities who can come are Irish, EU in the U.K. before December, Canadians, Australians, new Zealanders and obviously New Zealander’s and Australians can’t easily leave their countries due to COVID. We live very near to London and not a single person I know who previously had an au pair has managed to find anyone.

You need to book her into a nursery/childminder or get a nanny (but that can be very expensive).

Au pairs are hard work! Maybe look to get a part time nanny or mother’s help (a local older lady)

You need a nanny share or a childminder for a 6 month old if you don't want to put them in a nursery and you need to pay accordingly. I know too many horror stories of families exploiting au pairs and au pairs left with very young children who they aren't qualified to take care of.