With modern communication, it is so easy to keep in touch with your family and friends back home, so they too can share your experiences. We take care to place you with a family that suits your needs as well as the host family. So you have a great time helping them while you experience life in their country.

More info:

As an au pair from an EU country, you will usually work 25 hours per week which equates to 5 hours a day with 2 full days off.

As an ‘au pair plus’, you would work longer hours with 2 full days off per week. Non EU au pairs are limited to 25 hours per week with 2 full days off. Your host family will expect to pay you a minimum weekly amount of GBP 65.00 for 25 hours work. As an ‘au pair plus’, this would rise upwards of GBP 80.00 for a 30 hour week.

Your host family can request 2 evenings of baby-sitting per week. Additional baby-sitting should be compensated for with additional pocket money.

As an au pair, you are entitled to 2 weeks holiday per year; one week for every six months you have been with the host family. The host family should pay you one weeks paid holiday for every 26 weeks worked.

You will be expected to pay your own travelling expenses both to and from the host family’s country.

The host family will help you to find a local language course where you can brush up on the local language and no doubt meet other au pairs.

An au pair from an EU country you are entitled to use the National Health Service during your stay in the UK and therefore do not need to take out additional health insurance. You may however, decide to take out travel insurance to cover potential loss of belongings, repatriation etc. Non EU au pairs should take out medical insurance in their own country before coming to the UK.

As an au pair, you will assist with light household duties to be agreed with your host family and to help with the children. The host family will decide on what your actual responsibilities with the children will be however, please remember that you should not have sole charge of children under 2 years of age. The ultimate responsibility for the welfare of any child always remains with the host parents.

As an au pair, you are not an employee of the host family or of Spoonsful of Sugar, you are there as part of a cultural exchange staying with the host family who will provide you with suitable accommodation and food.

Once a suitable match is found between the host family and the au pair, Spoonsful of Sugar will pass your contact details on to enable the host family to contact you. When the family decides to proceed, they will write a Letter of Invitation to you giving as much information as possible about their family and what they expect from you. This should include what duties they expect you to undertake and the amount of pocket money you will receive.

On-going Communication:

Virtually all au pairs feel home-sick within the first couple of weeks of placement with a family. This is to be expected and is by no means an indication that the family and au pair are incompatible. It is simply that for a lot of the au pairs this is the first time they have lived away from home.

Our experience shows that as soon as you start meeting other au pairs whether at language school or through other au pairs in the area, you will settle down and start enjoying the experience. Spoonsful of Sugar will help wherever possible with advice after you have been placed with a host family and we encourage you to use our website to interact with us and other au pairs to share your experiences.