Have you ever employed an au pair?

[nsa]

Seven months in with twins and my wife has finally admitted that she needs help looking after them. We are thinking about getting an au pair to help out around the house. The deal appears to be that you provide a room, food etc and £100 pocket money per week, and then work hours/responsibilities are negotiated with the au pair. My guess is about 20-25 hours seems fair, split between looking after the children and housework.

Does anybody have experience of employing an au pair? How does it compare to a nanny, given that the nanny would be £400+ per week?

[Cheib]

Totally dependent on your situation, what you and your wife want and of course the person you employ some au pairs no bugger all about kids but some will have plenty of experience. I think you also need to look into how you employ them....if you employ an au pair directly I believe you are supposed to pay NI contributions etc With a Nanny if you are paying an agency then they pay the NI etc.

I think.....

Oh and make sure you wife chooses her and also pray to god she's not a looker. The idea of having a 20yr old student in the house is great but you really don't want to get caught eye balling her!

[onesickpuppy]

Cheib said:

Totally dependent on your situation, what you and your wife want and of course the person you employ some au pairs no bugger all about kids but some will have plenty of experience. I think you also need to look into how you employ them....if you employ an au pair directly I believe you are supposed to pay NI contributions etc With a Nanny if you are paying an agency then they pay the NI etc.

I think.....

Oh and make sure you wife chooses her and also pray to god she's not a looker. The idea of having a 20yr old student in the house is great but you really don't want to get caught eye balling her!

EFA.

[nsa]

Cheib said:

Totally dependent on your situation, what you and your wife want and of course the person you employ some au pairs no bugger all about kids but some will have plenty of experience. I think you also need to look into how you employ them....if you employ an au pair directly I believe you are supposed to pay NI contributions etc With a Nanny if you are paying an agency then they pay the NI etc.

I think.....

Oh and make sure you wife chooses her and also pray to god she's not a looker. The idea of having a 20yr old student in the house is great but you really don't want to get caught eye balling her!

Thanks. I read you can pay up to £107 pw without NI. A friend said don't have any input into choosing her, and if she is good looking, NEVER admit it to your wife or even your friends, because it will get back via them or their wives. And the regulations say you must have children to employ an au pair.

[MacGee]

we had Turkish ones...some great some crap. 2 polish ones..one a nutter the next fantastic..now my practice manager. let the wife do all the interviewing..told her I didnt want a dragon sitting at breakfast..might put me off my cornflakes!

[rpguk]

nsa said:

And the regulations say you must have children to employ an au pair.

Damn

[DocArbathnot]

A buddy of mine always had them. He lived in the middle of nowhere so used to provide a car too (handy for collecting his lads from school)

Often had lads from the czech republic, some of them would help with the house renovation which was handy.

They stayed in touch with a few for quite a while.

[Sargeant Orange]

Make sure she's not attractive or you could be in for a world of pain

[Halb]

http://www.newaupair.com/browse_nannies_results.as...

[Cupramax]

Halb said:

http://www.newaupair.com/browse_nannies_results.as...

[anonymous-user]

Halb said:

http://www.newaupair.com/browse_nannies_results.as...

Maybe it's time to reconsider having kids.... Can you borrow them?

[Ashley1987]

So many of them are fit. This is a tough job!