What does an au-pair really cost?

[tokengirl]

Hi, I'm considering the combination of an aupair and part-time nursery for my 18month old. Could anyone advise me what costs I am realistically looking at? I've employed a day nanny before, but I'm guessing a live-in aupair is a completely different set of costs? (I'm looking at 27 hours a week max)

Do you typically cover plane fares, language courses etc?
Any advice appreciated, thanks.

We've worked out that ours have cost between 650 and 850 a month (depending on au pair, some are more expensive than others). The pocket money (we give 85 a week for up to 25 hours work) is only the beginning. We pay car insurance, petrol, increase in power and water bills (they have doubled the water use), 10 towards their mobile phone bill each month, gym membership, and food. One au pair managed to double our food bill (she was the 850 one ). Also include the expense of taking them out with us on day trips, restaurants, take aways, birthday presents. And our au pairs tend to have their friends and family come and stay which (again, depending on the au pair) can be costly for us. Oh and we budget for a replacement tyre for each au pair (think it's to do with driving on the other side, but they have all burst a tyre so far).
Then there's the expense of setting up their room - we provide a tv/computer, new towels for each new au pair, bed linen etc.

We don't pay plane fares or language course fees.

And also bear in mind that it is harder to find an au pair that can cope with an 18 month old sole charge. Most au pairs have poor language skills which are not ideal for a child who is learning to talk, and also most au pairs have very little hands-on experience with children so the normal guideline is not to leave them alone with under 3 year olds (toilet trained and talking).
Having said that, my first au pair had 18 months experience in a nursery and was more than capable... but she was a rarity.

Hi
I would say ours is closer to £500 per month. We are paying the same weekly rate as Millarkie for a similar number of hours, which is about 25% more than the other au pairs in our area seem to get and they are also working more.£10 top up for phone about right. She doesn't need a travel card to take the children around. We don't pay for use of the car or gym membership either. Food hasn't really gone up because DH and I naturally seem to cook for three adults anyway, we just seem to waste less! Haven't had a heating bill yet though - which I am scared about as she likes it warm - and I suspect our water will have gone up too. This is out first au pair but I also probably won't be getting all the new stuff that M describes for the next one. I think we have been very lucky in many ways.

I think Millarkie is right that you'd have to be pretty careful with recruiting for someone to do sole charge with an 18 month old. Ours is supervised by a nanny (I have v complicated childcare arrangements!!) so it takes the pressure off in terms of what skills she needs. This ap is really good - the one we trialled last year totally not suitable. If you are used to nannies I think you oculd be in for a shock in terms of how different the skill set can be.

Ours cost a bit less than that I think - we paid £70 per week, so £280 per month. I was a SAHM, so gas/elec only went up marginally, and we're not on a water meter. Food costs did go up a bit, probably £25 or so a week - our ap never ate 'if-it's' meals that we do occasionally, always meat & vegetables. We went through a lot more meat, cream (!) & cheese. We paid the first £10 per month of her phone bill, and also invited her out on all trips, which probably added about £40 per month. So about £450 a month all in. We didn't contribute to travel at all (but we live next to a port so she could get home quite cheaply) and she paid for her own language course.

Harriet. I didn't think I would need to buy towels etc for each au pair. ..until the first one left and I saw how she had wrecked them. Agree that a chunk of our expenses is car related but live in a village so can't get away without that. Also pay generously with perks because of our location (competing with London) and because I only take au pairs with previous childcare experience and excellent English

Your car insurance and petrol is easily going to make up the difference esp if you are employing someone under 21 and they have to drive a reasonable amount. A nice idea re the towels etc and I will see how we go with that. WOuld prefer not to have to do it routinely though.

Just weighing up whether we can really move to half days only with the nursery. Au pair would have an hour and a half on her own before the nanny arrives. Am terrified that as is typical for us, as soon as we do this, she'll be like: ooh I have some emergency, I'm off now!

We paid ours £70 a week so £280 a month. We never noticed the food bills go up but I made sure that we always had a full fridge where as if we are on our own I'm happy to let supplies run down so maybe another £10 a week. We didn't pay for anything else and she stayed with us for over a year so she must have been happy. When she left everything was pristine, no issues with dirt / mess / ruined towels but perhaps we were extra lucky.

It costs me an average of £550 per month, this is for pocket money (£320 per month) and takes into account rises in food and utility bills, and some travel costs for when AP takes dds out (public transport).

Some one off expenses are phone top-up, (I ut an initial £20 credit then it's up to AP), subscription to social network site if they want it and like Millarkie I also replace towels, bedlinen, duvet and pillows but this is more of a courtesy than a necessity.

The real cost to me has been time - searching and interviewing for the right AP, compiling au pair manual, helping them settle in and find friends, etc but I have this down to a fine art now

It also was strange getting used to having someone new in the house

Typically aupairs do a max of 25 hours a week or more usually 20 hours a week

Mine cost around £600 a month, in terms of:

Weekly allowance
Cheap phone and top ups
Travel card
Language lessons

If you need your AP to drive there will be costs in insurance etc

APs aren't really a childcare solution IMO. Better as a top up after school. Not really for babies and tots.

Also be prepared for having another child - in terms of teaching them to cook/clean/generally behave as competent adults

have different experience to last poster.
NOT like having another child....else to my mind what would be the point!? mind you thats why i hired a slightly older one. 26 (rather than 18)
cleans, tidys, does laundry far better than me.
one of the family and very much an adult. and very good with my son who is only 2 1/2. Doesnt have sole charge tho ... just before and after nursery 7-7.45 and 5.30-6.30

Thanks for all your advice, both on the costs, and on the need to find someone with childcare experience and good communication for the sole care.

The requirement for an aupair is a bit odd for an 18month-old, I agree. It is to help cover a part-time job only, not full time.

The situation is that the youngest (will be 21 months in January, when new arrangements need to start) will start in a local nursery from shortly after his 2nd birthday. The nursery is good but only covers till 4pm.

So once the nursery place is available, we only really need afterschool care and (walking) school/nursery runs. So about 9 hours a week sole care. Plus holiday care for a mature 4 year old, and maybe a bit of housework/babysitting. But until then, we need 27 hours childcare to cover 3 days/week.

I suppose we need to be very clear in any communications about the two different regimes (the first is only sole charge childcare, the 2nd is lower sole charge, but a little bit of housework, babysitting)

As to alternatives, good childminders are in fairly short supply near me (has to be very local). I've also been considering employing someone more specialised on a short-term basis. But I'd rather the kids have fewer adjustments to make, and my income doesn't really stretch to temp nanny rates.

So that's where the requirement comes from really - I hope that makes more sense....

You will be able to find an au pair who can cope with the regime you describe once your child is in nursery.

So, is it right that you would still need someone to do sole charge for 27 hours before then?

I just don't know. You may get very lucky. It's as much about their dedication and the attractiveness of the job/pay relative to the demands of the job as their capabilities. What I would suggest is that when you find someone interested, if you can, trial that person first. It is worth the flight and a couple of days of getting to know each other. We did this with a French girl who was going to be working a similiar number of hours for us that you want after school/nursery and she wasn't at all experienced enough. Our current one could manage. So, it all just depends.