ok give me the full difference. au apair, au pair plus and mothers help.

[girrafey]

ok. i used to work as a nanny and have done childminding so am clued up on those.
however au pairs, and mothers help etc are blurred to me. could people please give me a outline of what theirs do, hours and pay etc. i think it is a mothers help that i need but just want to be sure.

also i know it has ben done before but i am looking at live in so what do you/dont you cover in room and board.
many thanks.

Mother's help does what it says on the tin. Anything the mother needs help with relating to the children, including cooking and babysitting.

An au pair can only do so many hours and can't have sole charge of the kids.

The au pair plus can do more hours.

That's all I know.

thanx 3NAB.

AP's do 25 hours a week AP+ are usually drivers and do 30 hours a week. This is spread over 5 days with 2 days off. They also can do 1-2 nights babysitting. Pay is from £60- £92 depending on hours, experience, etc
AP's are not meant to have sole care of children under 3, but I know plenty of people who do.
They can clean, walk the dog, look after the kids, anything really except, heavy spring cleaning, cleaning windows.
They usually do kids / household washing and ironing but you can pay them extra to do your ironing.
they are nearly always live in, they get a room, and full board. Extras include computer use / internet access, mobile phone, gym pass, travelcard, use of car etc.. but these are not compulsary.

APs are not British. A British person cannot be an AP. So even if a British girl was doing an APs job she wouldn't be classed as an AP.

Au Pairs are usually foreign students. They need accomodation and pocket money and feeding and in exchange can do about 20 hrs a week looking after your kids / babysitting. normally 18-25 yrs old. They can be left with the kids in the house usually, and while babysitting. Often they can commit to a few months only.

Mother's help. Cannot be left alone with the kids, not qualified usually but sometimes other women who have had families of their own / or younger women who are wanting to make the transition from nursery worker to nanny and are seeking "on the job" experience.

Beg to differ poodlepusher. A Mother's Help could be left alone with children. When I was a MH I used to have sole charge of either the older children or the little one which freed up the mother to take the older children out to the park etc or the baby to clinic.

Another thing is APs aren't supposed to have sole charge of under 3s. Something to do with language if nannyjob is to be believed. But MHs can and do. I guess as your MH gets more experienced and confident they are more capable of sole charge etc. But then an AP would be too. You may get a qualified MH who is looking at the position as more of a shared-care nanny role with a view to getting sole charge at a later date.

I think the big difference if you're deciding between the 2 is an AP you provide room, board, pocket money and language lessons. A Mothers Help if live in you provide room, board and a salary on which tax and NI must be paid as they are an employee. If live out you you have to pay at least minimum wage and again they're an employee so you have to deduct tax and NI etc.

you don't have to supply AP's with language lessons, just the time to do them...

I got my defitions originally from one of the nanny agency sites - usually, mother's helpers are not left alone in the house with the kids. I understand that might not be what everyone's choice in terms of practice might be though it is the definition I was given.