List of housework duties accepted as light housework

Washing dishes, including loading and unloading dishwasher
Preparing simple meals for children
Keeping kitchen tidy and clean, including sweeping and mopping floors
Loading and unloading laundry into washing machine
Ironing for children
Putting washed clothes away
Vacuuming
Dusting
Making and changing children’s beds
Cleaning children’s bathroom
Everything to do with keeping their own room/bathroom clean and tidy
Light shopping (not the household shopping)
Walking and feeding pets
Emptying bins

List of duties considered unsuitable for an au pair

Gardening
Window cleaning
Spring cleaning
Cleaning the oven, other than simple wiping out
Washing carpets
Washing the car
Weekly shopping
Pet training
Clearing up after untrained pets
Cooking the family meal, unless the au pair enjoys cooking and has chosen to do this for the family
Cleaning parents’ en-suite bathroom
Polishing silver and brassware
Making parents’ bed
Ironing for parents (ironing parents’ clothes can be included where there is less childcare and the children are out of the house for most of the day but should be kept to a minimum. Asking your au pair to do all the ironing for the whole family is not acceptable).

Au pairs should not be required to do housework when looking after children of primary school age or toddlers as they will need to be present with the children at all times. Click here to close and return to main page

Au Pair Agency - London, Brighton & the South of England

A professional, caring and experienced au pair agency, helping families find au pairs in London, Brighton and the South of England.

The Au Pair Programme is a cultural exchange programme whereby young adults from another country come to the UK to live with a family and help with the children and housework.

On average, an au pair will help you for around 25-35 hours per week and can babysit for you once or twice a week. An au pair placement can last for a short period ...for instance to cover the summer holidays, or it can be more long term, up to 12 months. A family will establish at the outset how long they would ideally like an au pair to stay, as will the au pair candidate.

Many of our au pairs' level of English is of a very acceptable standard upon arrival in the UK and they are able to have a simple conversation. Some au pairs have a good to advanced level of English. Almost all au pairs will want to attend a language course to improve their level further and the family will need to assist them in finding a local course to suit their au pair duties and their budget.

An au pair should be welcomed as part of your family and treated with respect as they should treat you and your home. Most au pairs will also want to establish a social life of their own and make friends outside of the host family environment so that they can make the most of the experience with other young adults. They can meet people at language school and ABC Au Pairs will give them contact details of other au pairs in the area once they arrive in the UK

What you can expect from your au pair – their role and duties

An au pair can assist for 25-35 hours per 5 day week. This is normally Monday-Friday but can be at weekends if this is your requirement.
A few hours more (by prior agreement) in school holidays but you should never expect your au pair to work all day every day, for a whole week.
An au pair can be expected to help with the daily routine of the children – preparing breakfast, taking them to and collecting them from school, preparing or helping to prepare dinner, clearing up after mealtimes, some general homework support, assisting with the bedtime routine.
An au pair is not permitted to have continuous sole charge of a child under 2 years of age.
An au pair can also assist with light household duties – hoovering, dusting, cleaning the bathroom. They can be asked to do the laundry but should only be asked to iron the children’s clothes. They should keep the children’s bedroom tidy as well as their own. An au pair is not a housekeeper and so should not be asked to undertake unreasonable chores or be expected to spend more than an average of one hour a day on them. To see a list of recommended duties please click here.
An au pair can babysit for up to 2 evenings per week, one of which can be at the weekend, but not every Saturday.

What your au pair can expect from you

Own room with bed and wardrobe, chest of drawers and bedside table. A desk or table for studying. WiFi access.
Meals and weekly pocket money (minimum £70 per week for up to 25 hours). For pocket money rates, please click here.
More pay for additional hours for EEA applicants.
2 whole (24 hour) days off each week. Most evenings free (other than when they may be asked to babysit).
Enough free time to study, attend language school or pursue other interests.
1 week’s paid holiday for every 3 months worked.

To see a list of acceptable duties please click here.

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