Average pay for au pair?

[ClaireClaire]

Hello forumites

I have a friend-of-a-friend in Italy who is coming over to London for the summer to work as an au pair.

She has had an offer from a family who seem nice, and is wondering about the pay that they have offered her.

They have 2 children, aged 8 and 9 years old. She is told she will have to work 5 hours max per day. They are offering ?100 cash each week, as well as ?1000 salary per month.

They live in London just outside the north circular.

Am I right in thinking this is above average?

Any advice appreciated!

Many thanks

Claire

[sillywoman]

Wow!

I heard ?80 for 25 hours a week, plus food & lodging. The extra ?1000 a month makes me a bit suspicious - why do they feel they need to pay that?

Maybe I've grown too cynical?

[Princess]

I agree with Sillywomen. I am currently looking for an au pair and the going rates seem to be anywhere between ?60-80 per week plus board and lodgings. The working week is a max of 5 hrs a day, 5 days a week with some evening babysitting agreed by both parties.

[KatsuQueen]

Are you sure she has understood the offer correctly? Could it be ?100 a week and then ?1000 at the end of her stay or something like that? I'm only guessing, but it does seem very strange that they have split the payments into weekly/monthly. And it is way over the normal au pair rates (as far as I know)

[bodsier]

That's interesting, so how do they live on ?60 per week. Do they work elsewhere on top of that?

[kapaxiana]

BEWARE!!! That is definitely a scam, it's an absurd salary for an aupair. An aupair is someone who want to spend time in a country to learn a new culture and language, it's not a profession and an aupair gets pocket money rater than a salary. I have come across many adverts like that (have helped many people from back home to find families so they could spend some time in UK to improve their English) and' at some point the fake family will ask for money (have heard many reasons for asking for money). Also every time the contact number given was one of those you buy an uk number online but the call is re-directed so the person could be anywhere in the world.

[sillywoman]

bodsier - you (the employer) feed them & house them & pay all utilities. The ?60 is 'pocket money' of a sort.

[ClaireClaire]

Oh dear! Well thank you very much people for these responses, everyone. I shall pass them along to my friend.

Much appreciated

Claire

[ClaireClaire]

I should also have said that if anyone might be interested in an Italian au pair for the summer, please PM me and I can send you the link to my friend's profile page on the Au Pair world website.

She is only looking to work for the summer, though, as she is back at university in September.

Thanks again for the helpful responses.

Claire

[bodsier]

sillywoman, I get that, My question was do they work on top of that, but missed the 5 hours a day max, so its possible to do extra work on top of that. I just hadn't met any au pairs that worked anywhere else outside their families, but clearly some of them do out of necessity.

[reren]

Bodsier - i worked as an au pair and am currently looking for one to employ - because you have all your food nd board covered you dont need money really except for going out - but having said that i think most agencies recommend closer to 80 and people with lots of childcare experience get closer to 100 or a bit more. Quite a lot of families will pay a bonus for staying for a period of time and some pay for language classes. I think some au pairs do top up their pay by doing extra babysitting for other friends of the family - but its up to the family to approve this.

[womanofdulwich]

I think the idea is that they are young people and if all your food and bills are included, the ?60 is your "fun/leisure money". i provided all my aupairs with memebership of jags and a bicycle. They should go to english lessons which may be 5 hours plus a week, and the rest of the time I have hellped them get little extra jobs, often looking after friends yourger children/ babysitting or sometiems cleaning where they might earn ?8-?10 an hour, and they might earn ?50 plus a week. But really thery are here to be part of your family, and if for example, we all went to the coast for the day the au pair is offered the cahnce to come too where we but there food/ ice creams etc The english lessons can vary between free to a lot more- depending how much they want. However very hard to find lessons in the summer holidays. Some people do not treat their au pairs like this. Many an au pair has been sat at my kitchen table crying about the family she works for.

[sillywoman]

Yes, agree with both the above.

Bodsier - I don't really think that au-pairing is meant to be a career, with pay to match. I don't really get your working extra 'out of necessity' comment. Do you mean that you don't consider ?80 a week enough money for a young persons leisure needs? I'm sorry - I can't really grasp what you're getting at?

[bodsier]

I think its pretty clear, and has been answered.

[sillywoman]

Thats good then.

[leta]

Au pair usualy is for young people from other countries (that has no responsability usualy).

They work in your home and they do everythink you dont want or dont have the time to do.People say 5 6 hour but usualy are more then that.

A friend of mine is an au pair and she is paid 120? a week.A lot of them they say is to learn english but most of them work for money.Its a job,a hard job and i think 60? is v small money even if you provide for them the necesary.

but yes there is a catch -going to the main subject.Something smells very fishy about it

regards

[bodsier]

I agree with you leta, I think all mothers are aware of how much hard work is involved. Whether its considered to be a 'career' or a job. What's a career anyway? We digress.......2 modes of pay of course sounds fishy, but then again 'leisure money' sounds fishy to me also...... but sticking to the point..........may be best to get clarification on the cash and salary modes of payment that her potential new boss is offering.

[aaliya]

Nice information this is all, I love to read this all, Thanks for sharing this.

[denny]

Wow bet you can have loads of fun in London with 60 quid a week not! That reminds me of that documentary years ago wrongly named 'nightmare nannies' (they were all au pairs)where this mum was shocked and appalled that her aupair was moonlighting as a hooker! That really tickled me! Most families are fair and friendly but if you don't help them to make a little extra money you can't expect them to be very happy