How Does An Au Pair Differ From A Nanny?

Most of us may confuse a nanny and an au pair because they may work for long hours with the children; the two terms are almost interchangeable. Most of this confusion has arisen due to the coming of foreign workers; au pair that perform the role of a nanny, but have had their working permit expanded to earn more money.

An au pair differs from a nanny in the following ways: 

While a nanny is a trained professional who has completed college, an au pair is an untrained volunteer that has no formal qualifications in childcare. A nanny has completed supervised placements or internships, with some preliminary experience. She also has attained relevant qualifications in childcare and education. An au pair usually has no specific training, experience or expertise in childcare; he/she must have at most babysat on occasion for friends and family.

Nannies choose childcare as their profession and will practice their learned skills and gain valuable experience with each role to further their career. They may attend further courses relating to the care, safety and development of children to add to their skill base and increase their earnings. In contrast au pairs are young girls between the age of 17 to 27 who come to UK to experience the British way of life and learn English by attending language classes. In exchange for full board with a family and a little bit of weekly pocket money, they help around the house and with babysitting.

Most nannies work full time or for 2 to 3 full days in a week, with their regular working hours being 10 to 12 hours daily. Au pairs work for about 25 hours in a week with free time to attend language classes, meet friends or explore the area. Some au pairs work for more hours and are called mother’s help or au pair plus.

A British nanny works as an employee for a family and has a contract detailing her terms of employment; she has to be legally paid the accepted wage by the family that also pays her tax and national insurance. Subject to employment law they earn between £18,000 and £20,000 per year. Au pairs are guests with the sponsoring family being the host, their treatment is guided by the Home Office that stipulate that they should be regarded as an equal member of the family. Coming to UK as part of the Youth Mobility Scheme or as a temporary worker, they will be paid weekly about £75.   

The main job of nannies is to look after children though they may at times do errands for the family for which they are not paid. Au Pairs, act as an extra pair of hands for families and undertake light cleaning duties and simple tasks that include supervising older children when the parents are busy.

To sum up a nanny is a trained, qualified, professional employee, whereas an au pair is a young, unqualified, untrained, foreign girl who lives with a family as a ‘big sister’ to the children and an older responsible ‘daughter’ to a host family to help out around the home.

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