We are recruiting our first au pair. We need someone to do before and after school three days a week (4.5 hours max per day), plus a little housework (probably 6 hours per week) and a short shift alternate Saturdays (1.5 hours at breakfast time - she would be free after 9am). Some babysitting - we're saying up to twice a week, but actually it will be much less - we just need to keep our options open on that.
If she likes, she could do her housework during school hours on the days she does before/after school cover, so she could have four full days off every other week, and almost four full days the rest of the time. This means she has full days to go to college and long weekends to travel/see friends. We live in Oxfordshire.
What is the going rate? I was thinking £70/week, but having spoken to a couple of other families it seems as though this is above what they pay. I don't want to cause ructions among other au pairs - that won't win me mummy friends! And I can't afford to pay over the odds. But at the same time, I want to get a good au pair and keep her. Would I be better off to offer, say, £65/week and then give a bonus as and when?
What do other families pay?