Au pair and host family support

Here at Kangaroo Au Pair, the safety and well being of our au pairs and host families is our primary concern. If you have any issues or concerns that your host family or au pair is not treating you in a way that is acceptable, please get in touch with us and we can advice you. You can contact us at support@kangaooaupair.com or on 01-6966036(Ireland) or 020 7060 4877 (UK). Below is a list of the main conditions and guidelines of an au pair placement.

1. The au pair arrangement is first of all a cultural exchange rather than an employment. Au pairs are young foreigners who decide to move to a different country to learn and experience a new culture and language and that’s why they decide to live with a host family. As such, au pairs have to be treated as part of the family during their stay. They will have meals together with the family and will take part in some family activities. Au pairs will look after the host family’s children and will take on a share of the family’s household duties, primarily childcare, in exchange for free board and lodging and an appropriate amount of pocket money paid weekly on an arranged day. An au pair must be provided with all their meals and should have their own bedroom.

2. The amount of pocket money can vary slightly from au pair agency to agency. Kangaroo Au Pair recommends pocket money between €100 and €120 per week in Ireland and between £70 and £100 in the UK for a standard au pair.

3. Working hours- A standard au pair can work between 30 and 35 hours per week as well as 1 evening of babysitting (consisting of up to 5 hours) in Ireland. In the UK a standard au pair can work between 25 and 30 hours per week and 1 evening of babysitting. Babysitting consists of an evening, minding children when they are either in bed or will be going to bed within an hour or 2 of the host parents going out. 

4. Days off- Au pairs should have no less than 1 full week-end off per month and a minimum of day and a half off per week. Au pairs are entitled to 1 week of paid holidays for every 6 months placement and holidays should be agreed upon commencement of the au pair stay. Should the family decide to go on holiday without bringing their au pair, they cannot ask the au pair to leave their house* and must ensure that suitable arrangements are made for the au pair during this time. Many families organise for their au pair to stay with a friend or relative while they are on holidays.

4. When it comes to the type of housework required from an au pair, the au pair’s main duty is to look after the children and that the au pair should only carry out housework that is related to the children or everyday tasks such as filling the dishwasher, sweeping the kitchen floor after meals, tidying up after the children and giving the children snacks and light meals etc. 

5. Au pairs hours, working schedule and duties should be listed in an au pair contract and agreed to by both the host family and the au pair at the beginning of the placement.

6. If things are not working out and an au pair or family chooses to end an au pair stay. A 2 week notice period is required. During this time an au pair must be allowed to stay in the family's home. If the family do not want the au pair to continue to stay in their home during the notice period, they must provide alternative accomodation for the au pair. The only time that no notice period is acceptable is in the case of gross misconduct by either the family or au pair. In this case the au pair placement can be broken without any notice period.

7. An au pair must be paid every week on an agreed day. An au pair should still be paid weekly pocket money, even if she has been sick for 1 or 2 days of a given week.**

8. Lastly, being the au pair placement a cultural exchange programme, au pairs should always be granted enough time off to attend their language classes. Host families are not required to pay for the language course as au pairs should bear this cost themselves, but they must ensure the au pair will be able to attend all classes if they so wish. Families cannot ask an au pair to babysit on an evening when she does her English classes.

If you feel that your host family or au pair are not abiding by the guidelines of an au pair placement, please do not hesitate to contact us and we can advice you what to do. We are here to support and we are happy to help you with any of your concerns. Please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.

* Unless the host family and au pair have agreed that the au pair will take their holidays during this time. 
**An au pair should provide a family with a doctor's letter, at the beginning of the au pair placement, stating that she/he is in good health and that she/he has no underlying condition which would ensure that she/he is not capable of minding children or entering into an au pair placement.

For other related stories see:

 what is ‘light housework’?

au pair stay in the UK

au pair contract

 au pair pocket money 

Kangaroo Au Pair News

WHAT SHOULD BE IN MY AU PAIR CONTRACT?

Au pairs and host families regularly contact us to ask about an au pair contract. Do I need an au pair contract? And what should be in an au pair contract?

We always recommend that au pairs and host families have a number of Skype calls before agreeing to an au pair stay. During these skype calls you should discuss, hours of work, light housework, working schedule, English classes and holidays. It's really important that you discuss and agree on everything from hours to agreed light housework, working schedule etc. This way you can both talk about your own expectations and iron out any potential issues. This is an invaluable opportunity for you to understand if you and your potential host family/au pair will be a good match for each other or not. 

Do I need an au pair contract?
We recommend that every family and au pair sign an au pair contract before agreeing to an au pair placement. An au pair should not book their flight before this contract has been signed and agreed to by both the au pair and the family.

In the au pair contract you should include all aspects concerning the au pair placement. These include:

1. working hours and time off
2. weekly pocket money including the day that this will be paid
3. working schedule
4. paid holidays (an au pair should receive 1 week of paid holidays for every 6 months)
5. required notice if the placement needs to be terminated* 
6. the date of commencement and end of the au pair placement

These are the most important conditions of your placement, so you should make sure that you and your family/ au pair agree upon them from the beginning. For example, if the au pair chooses to attend English classes, they mist be given enough time off to attend these. An au pair should never be asked to mind the children when they have to attend English classes.

Time off

Discussing the days you are available and your time off is very important too. Usually au pairs are entitled to a full weekend off per month, one full day off at the weekends and 5 free evenings per week. Anything different than this should be agreed upon in advance and it should be written down in the contract.

Pocket money

Once you have agreed on the number of hours you are available for your family, then you should discuss the pocket money with them. We recommend that you check beforehand what the average pocket money is in the country that you chose to move to, so that you have an idea whether your family is offering you a fair amount of money or not. Please see our recommended pocket money here.....

Duties & responsibilities

Au pairs main priority is to mind the family’s children. This could mean picking them up from school, helping them with their homework, playing with them in their spare time and generally anything that related to the children. Au pairs would usually help the family and stay with the children during the day, but families are allowed to ask for 1 or 2 nights babysitting per week depending on the au pairs hours. Again if you need babysitting, this should go into the au pair contract.

In addition to minding the children, au pairs are usually required to help their host families with a few household chores, such as: making snacks and ironing for the children, vacuuming the children’s room, washing dishes, etc. Even in this case, if there is any particular light housework that you have agreed to do with your host family, you should include it in the contract.

Start and end date of the placement

These dates have to be discussed in advance and have to be included in the agreement. Should the au pair or the family terminate the placement before the agreed terms, both parties are due to give at least a two weeks’ notice. Also, the contract should state the family’s right to end the agreement immediately in case of gross misconduct (such as theft, forgery, deceit, violence, etc.).

Terms & conditions

Other important details that should be made clear on the agreement are:

• Travel costs: au pairs have to provide for their own travel expenses
• Behaviour: host families should clarify how they expect their au pair to behave (be punctual, respectful, etc.) and what is not acceptable behaviour for them (such as what time the au pair needs to be home if they are minding the children the following day)
• Language spoken in the house: the au pair will participate in the family’s life and speak their language with the kids, unless otherwise required (for example, the family might request that the au pair teach her own language to the children, because they want them to learn a second language).

To see Kangaroo au pair's au pair contract, please click the following  link. Please feel free to download and print off.

*There are certain specific occasions when an au pair placement can be terminated without notice.