Helping with childcare - Having an au pair

telandy

We have had a great experience using an aupair to help us with our childcare. After the birth of twin boys, my partner decided that she wanted to go back to work on a part time basis. As we had recently moved into a new area, we had no friends and family close bye to lend us a hand. We looked at what alternatives there were to help us at home and eventually decided to go down the au pair route and through using an agency Aupairsearch - https://www.aupairsearch.co.uk They found a French au pair that fitted in well with our family and had similar likes and dislikes to us and from then on, we have never really looked back. The au pair never has sole responsibility for the children, but we have managed to reduce the nursery fees, from three full days to three reduced days and we have gained by having an extra pair of hands at home. Furthermore the au pair is expected to babysit for two evening a week, so this gave us two nights a week where we could have a social life.

Talking to family and friends, they thought that an au pair was an expensive option and only available to families on high incomes. The au pair has saved us money, since she costs us £55/week - excluding board and lodgings, maybe we have been lucky, but a bit of planning has gone a long way.

Sarahsaver

You are very lucky! This clearly can work for some people. I had an au pair a couple of years ago, then she discovered the student lifestyle of nightclubbing, heavy drinking and not coming home til 6am
Then I got a Hungarian couple who ate so much food it wasnt worth my while. But I agree if you are lucky then you get a good au pair, and it may even work out cheaper than other childcare arrangements, even after the tax credits help. Remember you wou't get tax credit assistance for an au pair as they are not recognised by the local authority.
mine didnt even have to do much really because at the time I worked evenings/nights so it was just case of putting the kids in bed and the au pair babysat.

Spendless

There is a family at sons school who have an au-pair.
I think they are on their 5th in 3 years.

The thing with tax credits and help towards childcare is t is dependant on income and how high your childcare bill is. My sister couldn't get any help last year when her twins went to nursery part-time, so an au-pair is perhaps a more affordable option.

Curry_Queen

Au pairs can work out very well if you get a good one that fits in with your family, but they can also be a nightmare!!!

What people need to remember though is that they are not a cheap substitute for an experienced/qualified nanny and often have very little to no childcare experience. In most cases, and certainly was the case with the agency I used, is that they come to the UK to further their education in English and often attend EFL classes in their own time. Working as an au pair at the same time gives them a cheap roof over their heads with some pocket money thrown in!

The first one I had was excellent but she became homesick after a few months and returned to her own country, to be replaced by the au pair from hell :eek:

She started out ok and seemed to fit in with us very well ... the boys loved her and she became a good friend to my DH and I. We both worked shifts so her main responsibilities were getting the boys to and from school if neither of us were around and preparing their dinner if I was on lates, which left her days completely free to do as she liked.

She then became friendly with a neighbour's teenage daughter and, like Sarah above, we started to have problems with her going drinking and coming home late etc and not getting up in the mornings to get the boys ready. But the worst thing was that she developed a crush on my DH :rolleyes: ... we ignored it at first but then she started to act oddly when we were together and it got to the point my DH was uncomfortable being in the house alone with her (which was inevitable due to my shifts) as she openly flirted with him ... so she had to go, leaving us stranded with no childcare for a while

We gave up on au pairs after that and employed an English nanny to live in. Obviously much more expensive as we had to pay her a proper wage but was certainly worth it for the peace of mind of having a qualified and experienced person looking after my kids

nannynick

Curry_Queen wrote:

What people need to remember though is that they are not a cheap substitute for an experienced/qualified nanny and often have very little to no childcare experience.
We gave up on au pairs after that and employed an English nanny to live in. Obviously much more expensive as we had to pay her a proper wage but was certainly worth it for the peace of mind of having a qualified and experienced person looking after my kids

Have to agree with Currey Queen on this one (seeing that I am a qualified English nanny).

What not everyone may realise is that as of 6th April 2005, the changes regarding Childcare Vouchers means that employing a nanny can become more viable as nannies can apply to be Approved Childcarers.

Calculations:
Mother working 30+ hours per week - annual income £20,000, Not Opted Out of NI
Farther working 30+ hours per week - annual income £40,000, Not Opted Out of NI
Total Income: £60,000 (for simplicity, ignoring any other income!)
Monthly childcare cost: £1600 Allocate 1/2 to each parent, thus £800.
Mother saves £859 per annum.
Father saves £1068 per annum.
Thus total savings £1927 per annum - or put another way, more than a months Free Childcare!
(figures from https://www.care-4.co.uk savings calculator)

If my understanding of how Childcare Vouchers works, then employing a nanny while still being an expensive option is more viable for families with several children. A large chain nursery in my area charges £285 per week for under 3's (£1235 p.m), so if you have more than one under 3... a nanny being paid £1600 p.m is looking more viable than using the nursery.

Au-Pairs to my knowledge can not be paid using Childcare Vouchers, as generally they would not meet requirements of the Childcare Approval Scheme. However, there may be a few au-pairs around who do meet the requirements, so it could be worth investigating if there are savings to be made by having the au-pair register as an Approved Childcarer - after all, if you can get £50 per week of vouchers and give them to the au-pair, then you save on the Tax & NI for that £50p.w. which will make a difference.

System

If i had an au pair, she would have to be flat chested. Short haired, fat and definately older than me. (A bit like Mrs Doubtfire if you get me drift). Me insecure? Nahh just sensible! LOL

Noozan

Judi wrote:

If i had an au pair, she would have to be flat chested. Short haired, fat and definately older than me. (A bit like Mrs Doubtfire if you get me drift). Me insecure? Nahh just sensible! LOL

:rotfl: :rotfl:

kremmen

As a single divorced father I had to make a choice about my future during the divorce..It was generally agreed that I would look after the kids as my Ex wasn't generally up to it and I looked into the possability of staying at home but to be honest from the point of view of my sanity as well as finacially it looked like working was the best option and with odd hours (9 hours working day + commute + starting anytime from 6.am to 1.pm) I could not afford either the childcare or a nanny (plus would it be right to bundle kids up at silly time of day to go to childminders if you could find one that started at that time?).

The answer an Aupair.

I have had 3 Aupairs...1 Czech and 2 hungarian...2 have been excellent and one was just ok but it allowed me to carry on working and support the kids..The cost is between £50 and £60 pounds a week plus of course food and lodging .

We have visited the 1st aupairs house and enjoyed ourselves and my daughter is invited to hungary for a fortnight in summer.

Paul

anitha

Judi,

you are a woman of my own thinking
sense and sensibility

SnowyOwl_2

In some Scandanavian countries it's not considered unusual for males of the species to become nannies, au pairs, nursery nurses etc. I think if I were to become a mummy I'd give that option some serious consideration..;) .

Joke or true story? You decide:

3 year old: Mummy, do au pairs bottoms come off?
Mummy: Of course not darling, why are you asking such a silly question?
3 year old: Because I heard daddy tell uncle Jim he wouldn't mind screwing the !!!!!! of ours....

Curry_Queen

Funny you say that SnowyOwl, but when we were checking out possible candidates for our 2nd au pair we were given the details of a 19 year old boy (French I think) and being as I had 3 sons he was a strong contender. The only reason I didn't choose him in the end was that being the only female in a housefull of males I wanted some female companionship. How I wished with hindsight I'd chosen him over the Czech au pair from hell though