Rosemary

I know a Spanish mum who is looking for an English girl to live with her family. The children are 11 and 7 (I think) so this is purely for language improvement and not the care of tinies. She seems to think that it is a case of housing the person and paying them a small amount. Does anyone know the best way to find someone and what the going rates are?

Rosemary

Fleecy

I don't know if it's the same but we had a Spanish au pair here in England for the summer. She did 25 hrs a week and was paid £70 for it, along with room and board.

We used Au Pair World. It's much cheaper than using an agency but you have to do it yourself. We put up an ad and got over 80 responses within 48 hours. Amazing! We sent serious candidates a list of questions and followed up on Skype.

We were a bit nervous about bringing a stranger into the house but our au pair was wonderful. Would definitely use the site again. And she's coming back to us when we come over to Spain next summer to help us settle!

Dick Dasterdly

Here's a couple of sites that might fit the bill.

"Workaway" and "Helpx".

Typical procedure is 5 hours work each day in return for Bed and Food.

No financial transactions involved at all and arrangements can be as flexible as you wish.

Many of the workers or guests have references which can easily be checked out with previous hosts if needs be.

As a host I have found the sites excellent.

agoreira

Reading of Spanish girls doing the job in UK, it seems £60-80 seems to be the norm (there'll always be exceptions!), so maybe less in Spain A Spanish friend here in UK has just had a baby and she is considering bringing over a Spanish au pair, she reckons she would spend that much for a couple days of child care in a nursery here, so would be quids in!

lmj50

Sounds a bit like slave labour. A friend of my daughter spent June to last week as an au pair near to St Tropez. Mainly as company for the employers 2 young children and to help with their English, she was happy as she is learning French. Free accommodation and meals. She had use of an Audi convertible, went to the beach every day, and was given 140 euros spending money a week! Nice job if you can get it!!

agoreira

It's hardly slave labour, as you say, some have very good working conditions. Most have evenings off, weekends off, normally time off to attend language schools, drive the family car, free wifi, free food etc. It's not a job for life, it's normally something youngsters do to learn a language, experience another country/culture, and then move onto something better.

Fleecy

It does sound like slave labour if you think of it as childcare - it's supposed to me more of a cultural exchange. So the au pair is treated as a member of the family, does the things that you do, learns about your culture and improves their language skills. You get an extra pair of hands at a reasonable price.

Most agencies say that au pairs shouldn't have sole charge of under 2s. Ours worked 9-2 looking after our 5yo, 4yo and 9mo baby, but we were both in the house all the time (working from home and readily available if she needed us for anything). You can ask for cleaning but you'll need to deduct those hours from the childcare/language teaching. Our au pair didn't clean or cook. Fine with us - no matter really - but your friend might want someone who will.

We also had two evenings a week babysitting. Think this is pretty standard too. We kitted her out with a nice room and took her out loads to show her the sights (we live in Norfolk, so popular holiday destination), gave her extra time off to go to London and explore etc. So it's not all one way!

Fleecy

When we were looking it seemed that a lot of the Spanish au pairs had no childcare experience, but because they couldn't find work they had decided that improving their English/demonstrating independence and responsibility, new experiences etc would be a good way bolster their CV and improve their chances. Seems a good idea.

lynnxa

I'd use an agency as someone else said

there's a guy posting on another forum who is au pairing - he gets 200€ a month

he's having issues as far as registering as resident & accessing healthcare - hopefully an agency like aupairworld would point the family in the right direction as far as legalities etc. are concerned

agoreira

There seems to be a huge range of "wages" but certainly in UK £75-80 a week seems to be the norm. From Spanish in UK forum,
ya se q el salario normal del au pair es de 75/80 libra x semana
As in so many other fields, there are also scammers (Nigerian???) operating there too, there are a couple of posts from people that have been offered £200 a week, but most seem to have had great experiences.

Dick Dasterdly

The question is, can the Spanish Mum afford to pay a wage for an indefinite period of time in addition to providing full board.
I doubt if there are many who can at the present time which brings me back to the sites I mentioned previously where no wages are required and are mainly based on cultural exchange.

cricketman

Sure why not? Almost all Spanish kids go to nursery, and this can be 300 euros per month - or more.

An aupair is cheap, but the problem is they have to live with you. So it is quite an imposition on your life - I guess its easier if you are at work all day

steviedeluxe

Worth pointing out too that there is always a segment of society who do ok money wise. In Valladolid a new Ikea has opened up this year, and a new Apple store will open up this autumn too. It may seem very hard to believe (I'm not so sure I believe it either) but according to this article 9 out of 10 Spaniards bought a new mobile last year! - I suspect the figures are distorted by IT/business folk who needed more than one mobile to develop software. The mobile most bought is of the smartphone variety
http://www.expansion.com/2012/09/25/...348609267.html
Amd if anyone doubts there are Spanish with disposable income, they need only look at the queues to buy the new iPhone 5
http://tecnologia.elpais.com/tecnolo...87_382720.html

MaryJones

When my son was a baby (he's now 17) we had an au pair as i broke my arm and couldnt care for him. Then the going rate was 35 pounds a week. We paid extra for baby sitting at night. Yes, its an interruption in your life. Our au pair was in our spare room and we didnt have a huge house. But it was wonderful. She was French and couldnt speak a word of english when she arrived. By the end of the 6 months she was with us, she could speak fluent english and becuase we didnt need her so much, she got a job in a pub. She moved back to France and then travelled around the world. She now lives in the UK with her English husband.
She transformed our lives at a very difficult time and the experience changed hers.
I would highly recommend going through an agency. Then if the person doesnt work out for you, then the agency are obliged to replace them rapidly. Remember they are young people and want to go out and party on their time off. You are responsible for them, like a parent. So its not all easy. The wages are low but they are they to live with a family and learn the language - child care is the trade off

jackytoo

Some good points there Mary. Sometimes it works well but others you can actually spend a lot of time sorting out the Au pair and is like having another child. Best to go through a reputable agency as there is a strict agreement which is good for both sides.