This section covers the definition of au pairs and nannies, visa and registration requirements, UK Tax and National Insurance, holiday and minimum wage.
Read about the changes to UK Immigration taking place in November 2008 - The Youth Mobility Scheme
’Au Pair’ literally means ‘on a par’ or ‘equal to’, and in general usage denotes a young person travelling to live as a houseguest with a host family in a foreign country. There are rules and regulations regarding the rights of different nationalities to visit other countries.
The UK Home Office site reads as follows:
In order to come to the United Kingdom as an au pair you must:
be single;
have no dependants;
be aged between 17 and 27;
plan to stay in the United Kingdom as an au pair for no more than two years;
be able to maintain and accommodate yourself without claiming public funds;
be a national of one of the following countries:
Andorra;
Bosnia-Herzegovina;
Croatia;
Faroe Islands;
Greenland;
Macedonia;
Monaco;
San Marino;
Turkey; and
plan to leave the United Kingdom when you complete your stay as an au pair.
Nationals of European Economic Area countries are not included in the official au pair scheme but are free to come to the United Kingdom as au pairs. If you are a Bulgarian or Romanian national you will need to apply for an accession worker card before you take work in the United Kingdom.
Source: http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/workingintheuk/aupairs/eligibility/
Read about the changes to UK Immigration taking place in November 2008 - The Youth Mobility Scheme
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Au Pair Plus
This term is generally used to define an au pair who undertakes duties in addition to helping with light housework and childcare for 25 hours per week. An au pair plus is not able to visit the UK under the official au pair scheme, but EEA citizens are generally free to come to the UK. Please see www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/workingintheuk/ for more information. Please note that if your ‘au pair’ is paid over £105 per week (this is the PAYE and national Insurance threshold for the 2008/9 tax year) then tax and National Insurance liabilities may be incurred. If you are unsure please speak to the appropriate government department, or to a professional advisor. Universal Au Pairs is unable to give specific advice in relation to employment law, workers rights, or tax matters in individual cases.
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A Nanny is a person who through experience and/or qualification is able to take sole charge of children for an extended period of time; whilst the parents are out at work, for example. Nannies may live-in with the family, or live-out in their own accommodation commuting to the family residence in order to work.
Universal Au Pairs actively recruits au pairs, nannies, and housekeepers. It is possible that some of the au pair members have the required skills and experience to fulfil a nanny role. We recommend that families take great care in assessing the competence and reliability of any person they intend to engage who will take sole charge of children.
Please note that all employees are entitled to receive a written statement from their employer within two months of starting work. Please see www.adviceguide.org.uk and http://www.businesslink.gov.uk. We contacted ACAS in March 2008 and asked whether an au pair is considered an employee for employment law purposes, or whether an au pair falls in to some 'cultural exchange' status. The answer was definitive - an au pair is an employee and is entitled to rights such as a written statement and holidays.
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Visa & Registration Requirements for Working in the UK
Read about the changes to UK Immigration taking place in November 2008 - The Youth Mobility Scheme
The UK Home Office website has recently been updated and has easy-to-find information regarding all aspects of visa, worker registration, accession worker card, etc. Families and au pairs/nannies please email us with any specific queries and we will try and point you to the right area of the Home Office site.
We called the home office contact line on 17 June 2008 to clarify whether au pairs from the accession countries are required to register under the Worker Registration Scheme as this is not clear from the web site. The very helpful lady concluded, after talking to colleagues, that this is 'probably optional' if the au pair is not paying tax or national insurance. She admitted that this is a grey area, but suggested that most au pairs from accession countries would benefit from registering as after 12 months they are then entitled to stay and work in the UK without further registration. There is a charge for each worker registration application, currently £90.
Please take care to ensure that your nanny or au pair is able to work legally in your country. In the UK the government is taking steps to enforce the prevention of the employment of those not entitled to work in the UK, and employers (including families where they are the employer) may be liable to significant fines. Please see this Telegraph article published on 15 March 2008.
Please also see our section Rights of Citizens of the European Economic Area (EEA), which also answers questions specific to Bugarian and Romanian citizens.
Our section Au Pairs from Turkey provides links to information regarding eligibility and visa requirements.
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UK Tax & National Insurance
The pocket money paid to an au pair under the official au pair scheme is currently a minimum of £60 per week, and this falls under the 2008/9 threshold for tax and national insurance. However, as many nationalities are able to visit the UK and undertake roles which are not official au pair placements, it will be necessary to check requirements regarding living and working in the UK, and also tax and National Insurance liabilities where more money is earned. The PAYE and National Insurance Threshold for tax year 2008/9 is £105 per week. You may be interested in reading the article relating to nannies and domestic staff at http://business.timesonline.co.uk, which was published in The Times Newspaper on Saturday June 02 2007. Please consult http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/ or your professional advisor for more information.
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UK National Minimum Wage (NMW)
The following is an extract from the dti publication 'The National Minimum Wage and the childcare sector'. Follow the link to access the full publication.
Au pairs and nannies
Au pairs and nannies are entitled to the NMW.
However, there is an exemption for such workers who:
• live in the family home where they are working, and;
• are treated as a member of the family, who share in the tasks and leisure activities of the household and in particular with regard to the provision of accommodation and meals; and
• are not liable for any charge in respect of the accommodation or meals.
For information regarding the current UK National Minimum Wage, please see www.berr.gov.uk
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Holiday Entitlement
To calculate statutory holiday entitlement we suggest that you visit www.businesslink.gov.uk. There is an interactive tool which will help you to calculate annual leave entitlement.
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Childcare Element of Working Tax Credit
The government has schemes that assist parents in paying for childcare. In order to benefit from these schemes parents need to utilise registered childcare facilities. A summary of options is available on the HMRC website. There is also a link from the Ofsted website to a 'Guide to registration: the voluntary part of the childcare register (Word format)', which takes a potential applicant through the process and fee structure. Both these sites have contact points where specific questions may be addressed.
We have further links and general information available in the section Useful Information
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