British au pair - can you have one??

[stressed2007]

ok another puzzler for you all. We may have found a British au pair - who has been living overseas since a child On the basis she has a British passport or dual nationality then I assume she does not come over under the au pair scheme just on her passport. Is she then technically just a normal uk resident (even though she has never lived here for tax purposes) and can anyone think of the unusual repercussions of her being British. If she is not an "au pair" does she have to be paid a minimum wage even though she is doing au pair duties? Do I have to pay her tax? etc. I suspect their are a lot of other things I have not even thought about. Thanks very much.

SP - It sounds like you have been very lucky with your AP's. You only need to read a few threads on here to realise that a lot of them can't cook, speak poor English and don't actually like children very much!

The other reason for an 'after scholl nanny' is the school holidays. There are 14 weeks of them a year, private schools even more. So parents need someone to work a much longer day in the hols - typically 10 -12 hours.

Actually, I have had a very varied experience with my aupairs. I like to think that I grow from them and don't make the same mistakes twice. Don't ASSume.

Didn't ASSume SP - you mentioned about your ap's -
"It is my aupair's job to keep the children's rooms tidy, do their laundry and to cook a nutritious meal (including shopping for the ingredients). Aupairs may only be 20-year olds, but they are not brain dead. I always choose my aupairs as girls who are in their gap year before going on to university for a degree leading to a professional career."
That they are as good as nanny's and that they pick up sick children from school. You hadn't mentioned any varied experiences - I can only go on what you've written.

What do you do in the school holidays? Does your ap do extra hours?

Can someone tell me if it is illegal to make an aupair work more than £25 hours per week without paying them more on top of their pocket money?

It sounds to me SqueakyPop that your aupair does 35+ hours?

Navyel she said she paid them for overtime. There is also an au pair plus scheme, and it sounds to me like the salary and what they're doing is around what you would expect from that.

(But by the way, I thought your earlier post was good food for thought. I think the main problem is finding a nanny who is able/willing to do the after school hours only given the difficulty in taking on additional work outside of these hours.)

I am a teacher so do not need an aupair during the holidays. When our Easter holidays did not coincide this year, the aupair worked full time for double pay. If DD is sick (she is asthmatic an I keep her off school if she is under the weather), the aupair looks after her for double pay. I haven't had an aupair that hasn't been happy to do this.

there are nannies i know who only do after school 2-6pm - they go in cook a meal, pick up children from school, do homework and then look after them till parents come home - they charge £10ph - so £40 a day £200 a week plus tax and ni

if child is ill, they are not tech on call, as not being paid, but the school will ring them first and if they are free/able to they will pick up,and OBV be paid overtime if not then they call the parents who have to leave work

in holidays they then work extras hours and money costing gen 80/100 a day

the friends who do this, are all mums, so they enjoy having most of the day to play/go out with their own child and then take child along with them when they work

aupair plus isnt a scheme. its a term used by agencies for eu aupairs who are not bound to do only 25hrs a week. and i personally think they should work max 35 hrs a week , if its more than its a full time job as mothers help/nanny/whatever in my eyes.

my goodness that is pretty expensive childcare, imananny - £10/hr plus tax and NI, plus they get to bring their own children along? I don't know anyone who uses an afterschool nanny, now I understand why! I think we'll be sticking with the au pair route, despite the drawbacks.

I don't think it's always that much, I get £8 p/hr gross as an after school nanny.

guess they pay more in my area - im in the south - but also parents reliese that a nanny might not be able to get other work to fit round those hours,so pay a little extra

I know 3 after school nannies who get paid that, but sure there are also jobs that pay nearer £8nett

I am in south too, I think it depends on how well you "shop around" also if you are willing to make a few concessions. Like employ a nanny with less commercial experience etc. But it can be done!

mizzan - you say it is exp childcare - yes it can be, but that person is looking after your most precious IRREPLACABLE procession(sp)

bet you or people you know, if you dont have one - pay a cleaner that amount if not more

always puzzles me how people are happy to pay a cleaner/ironer £12/15 (in my area) but sometimes quibble about paying childcare - though obviously the nanny does more hours than cleaner,so does cost more in the long run

navyeyelash - you get paid 8GROSS a hour thats about 6nett!!!

Imananny - please don't do the guilt trip thing with regard to the fees. Please. Stop it right there. As you say a one off fee a week, which amounts to say £36, is quite different from full-time care (say forty hours) at that price, let's be clear we're not comparing a like for like situations here.

I was very surprised at the 10 pound gross with a child but what i would think does explain it is that you would need to motivate a nanny potentially to do those hours as it would be hard to fit in another job around it, therefore I would expect it to be pricier.

Aklso regarding the comment that there is no 'au pair scheme' it doesn't matter if there is an official 'scheme' as such the point is, au pair plus' exist and work longer hours. Which was my point.

Sorry meant £10 net

no guilt was meant or intended harriet - just an observation - thats why i added the comment that obv a nanny would cost more in the long run as obv does more hours compared to a cleaner doing say 6 a week

sic.

I think they are worth a ot more than £10 an hour too, so money doesn't really come into the worth of the child. Stupid argument, really.

The rates are based on supply and demand, nothing else.

iamananny - I know if you work it as "net" it doesn't sound a lot, but in my last job (marketing for law company - so what some would term a "proper" job )I was always paid gross and don't translate this down into Net. I think only child care providers work out their pay in Net terms? I think £8 p/hr gross is plenty for me IMO.

For a full time nanny job that's £1,600 gross per month. That's £19,200 per annum. When you consider that most graduate jobs start from around £16-18,000 I feel £8 gross is plenty.

If a family can pay more then fair play, but for me (especially after spending so many years doing something I hated because the pay was amazing)it's less about the money and more about job satisfaction. It's great!

navy - if you are happy and can survive on that wage then great

£1600 gross wouldnt pay my mortgage and bills a month so i HAVE to earn more or I would lose my house

Whatever we/you/me get paid - always good to be happy in your work x

luckily I have a DP who earns a good crust, otherwise I'd struggle! Plus I am a nanny with less than 1 years commercial experience so makes sense I would be cheap {grin}

question about this earlier post - "aupair plus isnt a scheme. its a term used by agencies for eu aupairs who are not bound to do only 25hrs a week. and i personally think they should work max 35 hrs a week , if its more than its a full time job as mothers help/nanny/whatever in my eyes".

Can a non EU girl (e.g. Canadian, New Zealander) therefor be an au pair+ or an aupair that does35 hours a week - am getting v. confused!

stressed, as i am europian i dont know much about canadians etc, but i think they can get a working holiday visa which allows them to have whatever job they like, including aupair or aupair+. but you'd better check that (home office website? - this might not be the most appropriate link but at least a start
www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/workingintheuk/tier5/workingholidaymakers/
and this is the aupair section www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/workingintheuk/tier5/aupairs/eligibility/)

basically, people from the list of countries taking part in the aupair scheme need to get an aupair visa/stamp and should only work 25 hours a week. the other people who are free to come to the uk (ie eu people) and find whatever job they like can make other arrangements then the 25 hours. but i am also sure that there is lots of aupairs who are not officially allowed to do more they 25 hours and yet they do.

this is link to british aupair agency association which you might find useful www.bapaa.org.uk/index.htm