We asked our au pairs and families the following question:
"On our website, Kangaroo Au Pair recommends €80-€120 in Ireland and £70-£80 per week in the UK. How much pocket money to pay an au pair? We'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions on this."
What au pairs said...
Jules, au pair in the UK "i think 70-80 is
really low... i have had two jobs in the uk now as an au pair and both paid
125..."
Marion, au pair "I think it all depends on
the situation, what your costs are (for example language courses and getting
there - bus, train etc) and of course in which country you are (what the usual salaries are in that country) how many
children, how much hours you work etc etc, think it's difficult to generalise."
Yaheli, au pair in the UK "I was paid 60
pound for 12 hours at day and the lady wanted me to clean as well!! pff please
girls careful!".
Nives, au pair "I think au pairs are
underpaid... but i also have to say that i'd also make it up to the hours they
work... i worked a lot more hours than i was supposed to... but never got
anything in return... other au pairs were luckier got
the same amount that i got but had to work a lot less..."
Freya, au pair "I agree with Nives, the pay should be
worked out by amount if hours to e.g. 70-80 pounds for 25hrs and then 80-10
pounds for 30 hrs for example. Also making a set amount is difficult because
some people have more kids, and kids can have
different ages, some families require more housework than others and some
require none. So I think even if you have a set average pay you need to state
what the average pay is based on e.g. age of kids,
how many kids, how many hours per week etc. That might make it a bit more clear
and also give a guideline to families and au pairs when looking so the au pairs aren't under paid if their circumstances
are different to those stated in the average pay for an au pair. :).
I don't work in England or Ireland but
based on au pairing in general I believe that the recommended pay is sometimes
quite low, I remember getting offered when I was searching for jobs pocket
money offers that were a lot lower than what to her families were recommending. I find that
the recommended pay is just enough to live by. I believe being an au pair you
should get paid in order to have enough to get to go around and visit places
etc
and also be able to afford language lessons
as not all families pay for it and also health insurance. I understand food and
accommodation is payed for but once you also take these factors (language lessons, health insurance etc) out of the
pay there is only enough to live by and I thought it was so the au pair could
experience new cultures and see new places and learn a new language while
helping out the family and get a bit of pay in return.
Au pairs can work lots of hours/week so I think it should be based on your
hours but I do believe in some cases (not all) we are under paid ( I surely am not under paid).
And I think it is only
fair that we get paid for the work we do because accommodation isn't really
that much more with one extra person in the house when you already have the
room there in your house you are really just
adding water (which I believe in England you pay a set amount for?? correct me
if I am wrong though) and not much more. In saying this I just believe that if
you actually added how much the family pays for
food and water for the au pair and then add their pocket money the family will
in most cases if not all work out to be on top and be getting a good deal and I doing believe it would hurt to pay a
little bit more. Your au pair will be a lot more at ease not having to worry
about pay all the time and therefore will be happier and you will find probably
a lot more willing when asked for extra task to be
done and just a lot happier in general.
I know that I am paid above average for
an au pair so when my family asked me to do something extra that say isn't
directly in my contract I know I don't mind because
I am happy with the deal we have.
I hope this makes sense and I haven't gone
on too much but from an au pairs point of view this is what I believe :)
thanks :)"
Rosi, au pair in Ireland "100 € a week.
and if i have to work a few hours more i get also some money more. i know a lot other au pairs who also get
just 100 €. so id say that's the normal pocket money for that."
Sandra, au pair in Ireland "First family, €110/week, 3 children and
light housework. Close to (dublinbus) busstop with cheap busfares, so money was
very good.
Second family, €100/week, two little
children, money would be ok, but living in the countryside I spend around €50 a
weekend on returnticket bus eireann fares (with student card), so sometimes
it's very hard to get it right... :)"
Vanessa, au pair "I will get 110€ per
week, i am in Ireland. But i have 3 little kids under 5."
Monika, au pair in Ireland "I´m in Ireland
as an aupair and my family give me 100€ plus extra money for
gym,pool,school,flight to my country, etc..."
Karine Novaes, au pair in Dublin Ireland "Honestly
YES, families should increase the pocket money of Au pair, after a few months.
If people show a good au pair and fulfill all its obligations!
I always do much more than me is requested,
then the parents are happy, why not increase?
Being an au pair is a job that requires a
lot of responsibilities! and this should be rewarded!"
Martina, au pair in Ireland "When i worked
as an au-pair, i got 130 euro (10 euro/ hour for overtime)... plus money for
phone and bus and flights home..."
Saskia, au pair in Ireland "€120 a week.
They pay also the taxi and top up for the phone."
Jules, au pair in the UK "i think €70-€80 is
really low... i have had two jobs in the uk now as an au pair and both paid
125..."
What families said....
Clare in London England "We live in London and are currently looking for our first au pair. We are offering £80 per week for 25hours per week. We have interviewed 3 au pairs, 1 said that she wouldn't consider the job unless the money was better and another said that she wanted £130 as her friend was getting this amount!! Most of the au pairs I have come across want more money than we are offering. Anyone else come across this problem?"
Louise in London England "We give our au
pair £90 but this is for 35hours per week."
Lynn from Hampshire England "I tend to offer at
the bottom range of the au pair wage as I don't want someone who is only
interested in money. We offer a good package: a separate apartment beside our
house as well as a car, mobile phone and we bring
her on holidays with us 3 times per year. I usually renegotiate the wage
upwards after 3 months if the au pair is really good."
Susan from Wexford Ireland (2 children aged
5 and 3) "We pay our au pair €100 per week for 30hours of work plus 1 evening
of babysitting (Children are usually in bed by the time we leave the house so it isn't really extra work for our au pair.
For any extra hours beyond this we pay her €5 per hour."
Horacethecheese, family from Ireland "Well
from what I saw people are offering more than that plus holidays etc I was
hoping to get one for the recommended price but when there's more offered they're gonna go with that. They're usually
very well to do in their own country and eighty euro is pittance really. They
are well shod young women."
Roisin from Galway Ireland "We pay €125 per week.
Our priority is that the kids are well looked after and are happy. We also ask
the au pair to do cleaning duties related to the girls such as getting them dressed, giving them lunch, sweeping floor
after mealtimes, tidying toys as well as filling dishwasher and hanging out
washing. If we find the au pair is very good we increase their wages after a
few months, usually to €140."
