Am I paying au pair enough? Heeelp

[goreousgirl]

This is my 3rd thread with a different heading - sorry a bit desperate!

I may be v niave (is that how you spell it?)- But I took on an au pair nearly 3 weeks ago - she so far, has been too good to be true, and I am waiting for something to go wrong....

I am paying her £60 per week for 5 hrs a day + £5 per hour 'extra' - so far each week she's earnt £90 in total. She has a beautiful big room and en-suite, and looks after my 9 mo old and sometimes the 5 year old.

'in conversation' she told me that her school is costing £600 for 5 months, and that her friend at school is earning £200 per month with her family (live in) - it all felt like a bit of a hint.

She's 26 - truly wonderful, totally ignores her 'required hours', and feels much more like a nanny than an au pair.

The £60 per week is a stretch for us (I am hoping to get some work from home to pay her more, and hire her for longer each day).

Any pearls of wisdom out there? Shall I ignore conversation - or am I being REALLY mean with money?

It's great that you have cleared the air with your au pair and that all is well.

And there's nothing to say you can't increase her pocket money at some point if you continue to like her and her work.

I have just read this thread and I have just had a similar conversation.

Our Au pair has been with us for a while now and started off on £60 a week for 25hour, I now pay her £90 a week for 35 hour week, but it was agreed that she kept on top of the family ironing as and when she choose to do it, to fit in with her studies. She sometimes has sole charge of 2 children and this bit she really loves.

However the other day she told me she felt she didn't seem to have time to herself, and found it difficult doing the ironing and was tired in the mornings. She also told me her other friends did not do the family Ironing and only did the childrens, and got paid extra for babysitting. on Saturdays. I ask her if she had any suggestions and she said no. I had noticed that Ironing was not getting done lately and a few other jobs and the playroom looking rather messy.

I came away thinking perhaps i was not paying her enough or expecting too much of her. Increasing her pay was not an option for us.

After thinking about what she said her I asked her if things were better when she worked 25 hour week and she said yes. I thought it strange because she always looking to increase her income not to reduce it to £60 a week. She didn't seem pleased when i said this. Then i realized she wanted to reduce her duties in particular the ironing and still get paid £90 a week.

I was really dispointed in her and very annoyed when i thought back to all the other extra cash bonus for her holidays, and extra paid leave.

Now we have agreed to reduce her hours, however she has since told me she misunderstood, and thought i wanted the Ironing up to date on a daily basis and wants to continue as usual ( i know i have never implied this I have actually written down for her to choose when she does the ironing)

But now i am i the process of arranging for a cleaner to start after easter and its now caused a bit of tension.

Celtic,
At least you don't have all your eggs in one basket. I mean if the au pair up and leaves, youstill have a cleaner, and vice versa. You might even find that bit of competition between them is a good thing. For example, the cleaner might iron the shirts in half the time it takes AP, and then she won't be able to complain so much.

Personally, I would stick to the contractual agreement, largely as a matter of principal to remind her who works for whom.

Everyhitng i've seen suggests £60 'pocket money' for 25 hrs a week is normal.

And although you wouldn't expect them to do sole charge all day long or for a child under 2 the odd half hour of babysitting isn't that much hard work!

i am doing some research at the moment because we are thinking of hiring an au pair. i've found "pocket money" stated as around £60 per week for 25 hours, with 2 days off a week and 2 weeks a year off. is this right or on the low side? and also do you have to pay tax on au pair "pocket money" or is cash ok?

sorry bit of a hijack there

Paragraphs people please! Oh my eyes

£60 is not a low pocket money, as previously suggested, for 25 hours - it is fairly average.

From Au Pair World site

au pair (25 working hours per week): 55 GBP + board and lodge
au pair plus (40 working hours per week) 60 - 75 GBP
mother's help 75 - 120 GBP

I have AP+ and pay between £75-90 per week and give 'extras' inc mobile phone, with regular top ups, young persons railcard, money towards course fee etc BUT ONLY for the right candidate or attitude.

Tax is payable over £91-95 iirc.

fwiw even the paid for courses here are much less, under 200 for 6 hrs per week over 10 weeks. Free courses are only available to some - it depends on when they arrived, where they are from and their level of English in our area.

I completely apologise, my computer was showing all your posts without a single space I can see them now!

marmadukescarlet - that's so helpful to know what someone else actually does! thanks.

i thought it was about right and not low, but you can never be sure. the mobile phone thing is a great idea, and thanks for the tax info.