overtime for au pairs

[mazbogs]

hi,
am in my first week with my first au pair, and she is brill thankfully but am trying to negotiate a resonable over time rate. with schools being closed, by friday she will have worked 30hours instead of agreed 25hours per week, due to having to provide child care to my 5 year old. she lives in, full board, works only wed/ thur/ friday. we pay £70 for 25hours. she is asking for £5/ hour over time rate. is that the going rate?

Nope, She is pulling your chain.

Standard 25 hours earns £65-£75, 30 hours should be around £15 extra (ie AP+ rates of £75-90). Extra on top of that should then attract a higher per hour rate.

Saying that, you should have included info like this in your contract, so you have given her the upper hand.

FWIW my contracts say: 25 hours - £65, 30 hours - £80, 35 hours £100, anything extra over that £5 per hour. I also specify that AP has the option of doing the hours, refusing the hours, or taking time off in lieu later on - I think it fair to give them the option.

ah thanks for that stillsquiffy, yes have to admit i'm very naive to this. i think i'll offer £85 for £30 hours and hope she accepts that.

Perhaps I am being naive but I think £5 an hour sounds pretty good for ad-hoc, incremental child-care from a person you rate.

It's hard because the difference in pocket money for the average au pair doing 25 hours a week and 30 hours a week is generally only about £15-20 but that is all agreed up front. Giving up time which she was expecting to be her own, and at short notice is a different kettle of fish. I'm not sure how much I would offer to be honest though.

i used to pay my au pair £5 an hour overtime and that was written in her contract to avoid any confusion

I think £5 an hour overtime is fair too if she is under 22. If she is 22 or older, minimum wage is £5.80, how could you justify paying less than that?

Remember you don't pay your AP £70 for 25 hours, you pay her £70 plus accomodation. That is reckoned to be worth £75-£150 per week, so even at the low end of that range it's £6 per hour.

I think £5 is reasonable. But a bit less would also be reasonable since she is an au pair and not a nanny.

Me again, those of you with experience of au pairs, do you know if the 25 hours work/ week is on top of the max 2 nights a week baby sitting( by this i mean parents put children to bed and don't go out til they're asleep and au pair would be in the house any way). we don't go out that much anyway, but wouldn't mind slipping off to the pub for couple of hours if au pair is planning to stay in.

I used to be an aupair. I was paid £5.50 for any overtime. Most aupairs work 25 hours plus 2 nights a week babysitting - which is included in their normal weekly wage. I worked twenty five hours and was paid per hour if I babysat. This was agreed upfront however.

thanks for your reply , but sorry i'm not quite clear, are you saying that most au pairs do 25hrs work in the week and then also 2 nights babysitting as well and the payment for the babysitting in the evening is included in the pocket money( say £65-75). but that you were an exception, in that you were paid by the hour for any evening babysitting? sorry i'm having to have it spelt out !!!

My aupairs do 2 nights babysitting as part of the contract and dont get paid extra for it.

i also think 5per hour is reasonable amount for overtime. having said that, i never got any over time payed when i worked as an aupair.

We pay £80 for 35 hours. Included in that £80 and over the 35 hours is 2 nights a week babysitting, 1 night of which may be a Sat night no more than once a month. Over that I pay £5 per hour. Thats in our contract and what they sign up for. In reality we rarely go out apart from work and try to do a bit of give and take ie finish them early on a friday night so they can get ready early if they are going out etc.

We have been paying £5 an hour for extra work - so it seems a pretty standard rate.

Paying the £85 for the previous extra day seems ok too. I'd be surprised if she said anything or was upset by this (but you never know!)

Yes, your two nights babysitting are on top of their normal hours. Such an added bonus, even if you want to use it to go to go for a walk or go to the gym. We have 2 -3 nights in our agreement but that is because I use it to work a few nights per week.