More info:

Au Pairs are aged between aged 18-27 and as an au pair from an EU country they will usually work 25 hours per week (about five hours a day) with two full days off. If you require your au pair to work more hours this is called an ‘au pair plus’ and they can work up to 35 hours per week with 2 full days off per week. Non EU au pairs are limited to 25 hours per week with 2 full days off.

As a guideline, you should expect to pay the au pair a minimum weekly amount of GBP 65.00 for 25 hours work. As an ‘au pair plus’ this would rise upwards of GBP 85.00 for a 35 hour week. However, the amount of 'pocket money' you give to the au pair is your decision.

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

The Au pair is entitled to 2 weeks holiday per year; one week for every 6 months they have been with you.

As the host family you should pay the au pair one weeks paid holiday for every 26 weeks worked. The Au pair will be expected to pay for their own travelling expenses both to and from your country.

As the host family, you should help the au pair to find a local language course were they can brush up on the local language and no doubt meet other au pairs.

Au pairs from EU countries are entitled to use the National Health Service during their stay in the UK and therefore do not need to take out additional health insurance. They 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.

Your Au pair will assist with light household duties to be agreed with yourself and will help with the children. You will decide on what their actual responsibilities with the children will be however, please remember that an au pair should not have sole charge of any child under 2 years of age and ultimate responsibility for the welfare of any child always remains with the parent.

The au pair is not your employee or that of Spoonsful of Sugar. They are staying with you as part of a cultural exchange and you are expected to provide them with suitable accommodation and food.

We will e mail the files of suitable candidates through to you and these will include their registration form, police record check, medical certificate, references, a photo collage and a 'Dear Family' letter. When you find an au pair you think may be suitable, we will forward their contact details on to you and you can speak to them directly. If you decide to proceed, we will ask you to write a 'letter of invitation' to the au pair. This is an informal letter giving information about your family and what the au pairs role will be. This should include the duties that you expect them to undertake and the amount of pocket money they will receive. It is also nice to include a photograph of your family for both the au pair and their family to see.We can e mail you a template for the letter.

Advice for Host families who require their au pair to drive:

If a client has requested that their au pair drives in the UK, it is quite probable that the au pair will not have driven on the left hand side of the road or in a right hand drive car before. Spoonsful of Sugar therefore recommend that the host family either take the au pair out themselves to give them practice in the car, or they organize a couple of formal driving lessons before allowing the au pair to drive with or without passengers. We strongly advise that you feel 100% confident in their driving ability before they are allowed to drive on their own. The au pair must be insured for any accidents or legal liabilities which may arise from the au pair driving the host family’s vehicle.

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 they start meeting other au pairs whether at language school or through other au pairs in the area, they will settle down and start enjoying the experience. When they first arrive, we strongly encourage you to steer them in the right direction of local activities/clubs that they might enjoy and also for them to keep in contact with family and friends back home as this can be key to helping them adjust to their new life/surroundings. Spoonsful of Sugar will help wherever possible with advice after the au pair has been placed with you.