How would an Au-pair affect my Benefits?

hippy-chicy

Tried to find out today re au pairs but haven't been able to get a definitive answer.

I do however, just want to clarify though that I made a mistake in the advice i gave about the live in carers. ( just in case someone reads this thread at a later date). I know its not relevant to this thread but i did mention it.

There is no deduction for the carer - mainly because the people requiring live in carers will be in receipt of DLAC at the middle/higher rates and they ARE included in the calculation of the rooms required for LHA where I stated that they weren't. Sorry about that.

Have you contacted your HB dept? Have they given you any advise re the au pair??

Macro_3

The au pair would not be counted as a non-dependent and so there would be no deductions made for her/him. This is dependent on there being a genuine commercial arrangement between the two of you in respect of her living in your home - which there would be.

The flip-side of that is that there would be no extra bedroom for her as she would not be a member of your household.

daska

so, if I had a live in carer they'd count in the HB calc but not if they were an au-pair - but then an au-pair would be cheaper than a live in carer. I'm currently struggling without 2 of my regular carers and their fees would pay the au-pair's pocket money and give me an additional 18 hours help entertaining the toddler and retrieving him from wherever he's climbed to this time... seems very MSE to me!

In some ways the question is academic as, in effect the council is paying for it either way round, it's just which department pays which bit as I have to make all the figures add up - easier said than done sometimes LOL

thorsoak

As you have all avenues covered, I assume that you have taken into account the time that your 2 year old will spend with his dad and siblings?

daska

His dad is on chemo, one sibling lives 200 miles away and the other is far more interested in hanging round town with her mates. So they aren't an option for childcare.

daska

I feel as if some people here disapprove of my getting an au-pair, as if I'm trying to avoid my parenting responsibilities or cut my toddler off from his family.

I'm disabled. The toddler is, according to everyone who knows him, a 'handful'. I can manage about 3/4 hour or so 'with' him i.e. playing, caring, before I am exhausted and have to rest. I can't go out with him unless I have assistance to get him ready and go with us. As a result he has and still misses out on what most kids get as 'normal' like playgroup, interaction with other children, visits to the park. My 'hours' simply don't stretch to everything necessary.


His dad still helps but only in the form of spending the odd night here so that I can decamp to the spare room and take a sleeping pill, he can't 'babysit' as such and his halfsister is too unreliable for us to ask her - not that she'd be happy to even if we did.

An au-pair would help me with the early morning and bedtime routines, getting him to nursery etc. During the day she could help with getting to playgroup, activity centres etc and do the running around. (I love watching him play but getting in with him just isn't physically possible. With assistance we can maximise the time his dad can spend with him. The aim of the au-pair is to enrich my son's life, not to detract from it.

Now, does anyone have any further criticisms?

System

daska I can't offer any helpful information here but just wanted to let you know I hope you get everything sorted out to the benefit of you and your child.:D

thorsoak

daska wrote: »

I feel as if some people here disapprove of my getting an au-pair, as if I'm trying to avoid my parenting responsibilities or cut my toddler off from his family.
An au-pair would help me with the early morning and bedtime routines, getting him to nursery etc. During the day she could help with getting to playgroup, activity centres etc and do the running around. (I love watching him play but getting in with him just isn't physically possible. With assistance we can maximise the time his dad can spend with him. The aim of the au-pair is to enrich my son's life, not to detract from it.

Now, does anyone have any further criticisms?

Daska - please don't think I was criticising .....I had hoped that you had more help from your toddler's father and siblings than you are getting. Which would have given you more hours - but obviously that isn't forthcoming

daska

I'm sorry if it seemed like an over-reaction. As you may have gathered from this thread I'm somewhat over-stressed at the moment.

what I'd give to be able to go back to work for my old salary and two weeks in the Maldives with room service and a private beach...

but, hey ho, life goes on, this too will pass...

daska

OK, now I'm seriously confused. Last week Housing told me that if I got a live in carer I'd lose my 25% CT discount (which SS duty manager says I can't claim out of budget but I will fight this decision if it comes to it as it's an expense associated with my getting the care that I need) and not gain anything on the HB. This week my support worker rings them and is told I'd carry on getting full CT benefit and gain on the number of bedrooms they would calculate me as needing so would actually benefit from getting a carer in terms of meeting the rent. On-line I find references to there being no provision under LHA for additional rooms for carers or even for medical necessities.

Why does it have to be so complicated?