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Paid childcare

Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

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Original poster

Au pair pay?

18 replies

VickyGrover · 07/03/2010 19:44

I work part time with 4 DCs, 3 are at school and one is 1 year old. My au pair asked for a pay rise - she has been with us for 2 months.

DH takes the children in the morning and I pick them up after school. Au pair sometimes picks the 3rd child up from her nursery school.

She does 30 hours per week. Her longest days are 9-5pm on the 3 days when I work. During those days she has SC of DS who usually sleeps for 2 hrs at lunch. She does just a few hours each day on the other 2. She babysits on Saturday usually and perhaps once in the week.

We live in London and pay her £120pw, plus full board (in own part of house) plus gym fees. We pay £8 per hour for any extra time over the 30 hours.

She is finding the job is more demanding than she expected. We thought we were paying a generous amount (top end of all the ranges we saw online) as we have 4 young children. She won't way how much more she wants which is a bit puzzling. What do others think?

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rainbowinthesky · 07/03/2010 19:46

Bloody hell. £120 pw for 4 kids. You have got a really cheap deal there.

rubyslippers · 07/03/2010 19:48

she sounds more like a nanny

4 kids - that is demanding

3 full days

2 part time days

plus babysitting twice per week

hmm - i think if you had a nanny which it sounds like you need, then you would be paying quadruple that

Original poster

VickyGrover · 07/03/2010 19:50

TBF, she only ever has 4 all at once for 1 hour per day when she makes their tea and tidies up after it. I'm always with her at this point too.

But what do you think would be fair?

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rainbowinthesky · 07/03/2010 19:53

I always thought aupairs were not meant to have sole care. SOunds like you need a nanny.

rubyslippers · 07/03/2010 19:54

i think it would be fair if you got a nanny TBH

is she very young?

when does she get time to go to college/study etc?

nannynick · 07/03/2010 20:06

I am not surprised that she is finding it more demanding than expected. A traditional au-pair would not be having sole charge for an under 5 and would be working 25 hours a week mostly doing housework type things with a bit of childcare thrown in.

Your au-pair must be very experienced for you to be prepared to leave your 1 year old with her for most of the day, 3 days a week.
Is that what you meant... is she caring for your 1 year old for say 9-3, or 9-5?

Mind you, she is being paid more than a traditional au-pair. An au-pair is usually paid below the Lower Earnings Limit, as then there is no PAYE to do. Whereas you are paying above the LEL even a little above the ET (Earnings Threshold), so you are presumably operating Simplified PAYE.

She is finding the job is more demanding than she expected. We thought we were paying a generous amount (top end of all the ranges we saw online) as we have 4 young children.

For an au-pair who is doing shared care with a parent around at home, then yes, it is at the top end. However as she is having sole charge for 24 hours a week of your 1 year old, then she may be more of a live-in nanny.
Not sure how much a live-in nanny would be on, perhaps £300 a week net, so £60 a day.

I would wonder if she is comparing herself to a live-in nanny... which is why she is asking for more money. Fair enough I say given that for 3 days of the week it does sound like she is a live-in nanny.

How much more is she wanting? Is she aware that the tax man will be taking a cut of any increase, so any increase in wage won't be as much in her pocket?

Original poster

VickyGrover · 07/03/2010 20:10

Ruby, I think you may be right about needing nanny rather than an au pair because of school holidays.

In term time, the main job is just to look after the 1 yr old whilst I am at work and to help at tea time. I can see it will be very different is the school holidays when I am working. The older children spend a lot of time at my Mums during holidays. I was thinking of getting extra help in school holiday time.

I should also say we give 6 weeks holiday plus time off when we are on holiday without the au pair. I have Mondays and Fridays off so if we go away for long weekends in the school holidays then there is extra time off too.

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Julesnobrain · 07/03/2010 20:16

I think thats good pay for an AP but actually your not using her as an AP but a nanny and in that case you are not paying enough. An AP is not meant to have sole care although a couple of hours for over 5's eg after school is normal. I am not surprised she wants a rise, a nanny would want a min of £240 a week for of those hours and responsibility. I think you are underpaying her.

Original poster

VickyGrover · 07/03/2010 20:22

Nannynick

Agencies would probably call her an au pair plus. She is very experienced with children and is in her late 20s. I work 9-2.30 on 3 days.

She did not want to say how much more she just invited me to consider what would be fair.

She has sole charge 9am to 3.30pm 3 days per week. DH is there too as he is self-employed and works from home. Last week her sole care time was around 12 hours. DH does all the tax stuff as he's an accountant (there has to be some compensation I guess ).

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Missus84 · 07/03/2010 20:36

An unqualified live-in nanny, I think I'd expect to pay at least £5 an hour, so £150 a week maybe?

Original poster

VickyGrover · 07/03/2010 20:41

Perhaps the best answer would be hire a nanny instead. Although I don't think that is what my au pair is expecting!

I was in 2 minds which way to go. I just thought that for 3 days to look after one baby for 6.5 hours who sleeps for around half that time didn't really need a nanny especially when DH is around a lot of the time too.

What is the hourly rate for a live in nanny? I see that 8-12 is the rate for live out.

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nannynick · 07/03/2010 20:57

Maybe that is how you should go about talking to her. Ask her if she feels that you would be better having a live-in nanny instead of her.

DH is in the building - does that mean he does anything child related though? Does he do any of the nappy changes? Does he entertain your baby for say even 30 minutes during that 6.5 hours? Is DH being around the same as if a SAHM was around? I expect not.

Live-in nannies can be paid below NMW due to being live-in it's hard to work out what their real hourly rate is.

Missus84 · 07/03/2010 21:00

I think it sounds like a borderline job for an older, experienced au pair tbh - some would manage it fine, some will be out of their depth. And with au pairs there's no way of knowing til they start!

For a live-in nanny in London, around £5-£7 net an hour is probably typical, though top end nannies may earn more like £8-£10 net an hour.

Original poster

VickyGrover · 07/03/2010 21:19

It's been very helpful to read the replies, much to think about.

When we hired her 3 months ago, I was still on ML. I was unsure whether I was going back and if I was on what days/hours etc. We explained this at the time and said I would do 3 part time days at the most.

Spoke to DH and he agreed paying £150 pw seemed fair going forward. He did say that if we were upping the pay then we might think about reducing the holiday we give. It will amount to 10 weeks in the year, her 6 weeks plus BHs as well as the 4 weeks off we have away as she doesn't come with us and we don't insist she takes holiday when we do.

I'm thinking now that I should perhaps hire a live in nanny now that I am back at work. I agree it is a borderline job for an older experienced au pair - which is what she is, but clearly if she feels under valued then is it just the money that is the issue?

We had a live out nanny a year ago and there is a difference in standard of care that is worth paying extra for.

Thanks all.

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nannynick · 07/03/2010 21:32

Can't think of any reason why you can't have a contract review and agree a new contract, with new salary, new duties if necessary and new holiday entitlement. You are giving far more than statutory minimum holiday, so no issue with the amount of holiday.

Review time perhaps. See what she likes about the job, what she dislikes, how she sees things going forward. Discuss extra pay as the job as changed from how it was when she started and also discuss how you working now also may affect amount of holiday.

It may be good move for her to be more of a live-in nanny, even if she is only a live-in nanny for 3 days a week, and more an au-pair on 2 days a week.

Original poster

VickyGrover · 14/03/2010 19:45

The end result was we agreed to pay the au pair more at the rate for an unqualifed nanny. We also agreed to find some extra help during school holidays when all 4 are around so she isn't over worked. She was very happy with the result and all seems well.

Just got to find the holiday nanny now !

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pineapple79 · 14/03/2010 21:01

Defnetly sounds like you need a nanny

EColi · 14/03/2010 21:19

Glad you've come to an agreement. We put the children into sports clubs or part-time holiday clubs during school hols so au pair has the same sort of hours as term time. It comes out at about the same cost as having a qualified nanny but the kids get to learn new skills (bike safety, trampolining etc) and socialise.

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