All au pairs are expected to help with the following tasks as a member of your family:

•   Dressing or helping to dress/wash/bathe children before or after nursery, playgroup or school
•   Nappy changing or potty-training
•   Preparing breakfast for children
•   Taking/collecting children to/from kindy, playgroup, school, appointments, clubs, or outings
•   Driving (family to arrange driving assessment, lessons and insurance and ensure they are 
satisfied with the Au Pair’s driving skills)
•   Entertaining children or supervising them during play
•   Preparing children for bedtime
•   Making children’s beds and keeping children’s rooms tidy and clean
•   Preparing simple meals for the children
•   Helping to prepare family meals
•   Occasional cooking for the whole family
•   Clearing the table, loading and unloading the dishwasher or washing up at meal times
•   Vacuuming and tidying family areas
•   Keeping own room clean and tidy (and bathroom if en-suite)
•   Assistance with children’s laundry; loading and unloading the washing machine, tumble 
dryer or hanging out & folding washing
•   Occasional shopping for food and other items (*not weekly shop for the entire family!)
•   Being at home while children are at home due to illness or school holidays
•   Help with children’s school work

• Minimum pocket money is $200 per week for 30 hours, most families pay $250

Your family needs to consider the following costs in addition to weekly pocket money:

• Full board in a furnished, private room
• Completion bonus of $500 (compulsory component of the program; not subject to performance)
• Collection from International Airport (or onward travel if you live in regional location)
• Car Insurance and optional driving lesson(s) if car use is required

The Au Pair must be given their standard weekly pocket money during periods when your family is travelling or on holidays. This payment is required regardless of whether your Au Pair accompanies your family. Please discuss directly with your au pair to decide holiday duties, timetable and benefits/allowances or give us a call for more information about your specific holiday plans.

Au pairs are generally healthy and fit. There are no IAPA guidelines as aupairing is Cultural Exchange and not employment.
The Au Pair must be given their standard weekly pocket money for occasional sick days. Please discuss directly with your au pair to decide what’s fair, depending on the duration/severity of sickness.

Extra hours should be given back as extra time off or paid as extra hours in line with the pocket money guidelines. For example during school holidays, or when you have a sick child who has to stay home for a few days, you can pay more to reflect extra hours (see invitation for calculations)

Although the Au Pair program is known internationally as a cultural exchange program, there is no ‘official’ au pair program in Australia.

We recommend that you seek independent advice regarding Australian tax and Super requirements. We understand that au pairs should apply for a Tax File Number when they first arrive in Australia, especially as many au pairs may seek work after their au pair program is finished.

For more information see Australian Tax Office website

We understand that the ATO is reviewing the Au Pair Program and tax requirements for au pairs may change.

As a host family, we suggest you add the au pair to your home insurance policy. All au pairs have international gap year travel insurance to cover medical, repatriation and liability and we ask the au pair to give you those details together with their travel information.

We provide candidate profiles complete with a Police Clearance from the home country of the au pair, a medical report and a minimum of two references.

In addition to this, further background checks are now mandatory in most States and Territories in Australia.

Some au pairs book an arrival package including local orientation. This is an additional service, booked and paid through a separate company.

Most au pairs fly directly to the host family and we welcome them to attend our Meet & Greet events in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.

All families & au pairs receive helpful hints and tips by email to get you both started.

Sydney only

A Demi-Pair can help with childcare for up to 20 hours per week to fit around language classes. During school holidays longer hours may be agreed.

Demi-Pairs are in Australia on a Student visa which means they are part time language students and part time au pairs. The language school we collaborate with is ELC, on Kent Street near Town Hall station.

English lessons can be in the morning until early afternoon or in the evening, starting from 5pm. A class timetable can usually be agreed to fit your family requirements, i.e. all morning classes or all evening classes. Host families interested in the Demi-Pair program must live in locations no further than 1 hour by public transport to Town Hall station.

Weekends should be mostly free apart from occasional babysitting.

The Demi Pair program has the same duties included as the au pair program, with fewer weekly hours. Expect your Demi-Pair to have intermediate language skills. Pocket money is $100 per week.

An au pair is fantastic as an extra pair of hands when mum has a baby, especially if there are also older children. The au pair can take the older children out to play, giving mum time to concentrate on the baby.

We do not recommend/endorse/facilitate an au pair to provide sole care for children under two (2) years of age. Generally, the ‘average’ au pair is not experienced enough with this age group and this is simply too much responsibility without a parent to supervise and/or assist during the day.

Some of our Diamond and even some Gold au pairs would be able to provide limited care for children 12-24 months. Limited care would be short periods of time without immediate parental supervision and after spending enough time alongside a parent to train for this responsibility.

All our au pairs pay for their own flights to Australia, visa application and gap year travel insurance. The host family is responsible for airport collection.

If your au pair has a full, clean driving licence from the UK or an EEA country, she/he is permitted to drive in Australia. You au pair should organise an International licence prior to travelling to Australia.

Many families need the au pair to drive the car for school runs or sports activities. As driving in Australia is different, it is best to consider a driver with some experience and make sure to book a few driving lessons with an independent instructor to familiarise the au pair with your local area and regular routes taken and at the same time assess driving skills. Extra lessons may be needed. The host family is responsible for appropriate insurance and should cover all car costs.

Our au pairs from Korea and Japan are often less confident when it comes to driving. If you need her to navigate busy city traffic, make sure you take this into consideration.

Some families, especially those living in locations with limited public transport, will also give access to the car in the au pair’s spare time. Make sure the arrangement and boundaries are clear and agree who pays the extra petrol. In our handbook you will find some more practical tips.

Please explain local road signs (especially parking!) and speed restrictions.

Many families like the idea of first training for their au pair and book a course for her on arrival. Smartaupairs give access to free online First aid training.

In Germany, basic First Aid is part of the driving test!

Our au pairs are all instructed to travel with appropriate Gap Year Travel Insurance. This not only covers medical care but generally also repatriation and liability.

When we send the au pair arrival details, we will also inform you of her insurance details/policy number and emergency contact numbers.

Although your au pair should be making many new friends in Australia, she will also want to keep in touch with home.

Most families are able to provide internet access to their au pair. If you allow her to use Skype for overseas calls, she can call to other Skype users free of charge.

You may want to discuss what times she can use the internet to keep in touch (outside work hours, time limits may apply)

NOTE: broadband in Europe is generally unlimited. In Australia you can be charged for excessive use, please discuss this with your au pair!

Even with the best planning and support, occasionally things do not work out and someone is unhappy.

Please talk things over first. If a solution cannot be found, please call our office so that we can assist and mediate. We may be able to provide suggestions you had not considered.

If the situation cannot be resolved, we can discuss a rematch.

Our au pairs travel on a Working Holiday Visa. There is no need for complicated sponsorship and generally the visa application is very quick (next day for most European candidates)

Au Pairs can now apply to extend their stay beyond 6 months, more information and application forms are available on the Australian Immigration website.

There is no au pair visa for Australia.

Our au pairs in Australia generally do not take language classes. Their skills range from good to advanced and they have often learned English in a ‘class’ environment for many years and now just need to gain more practical skills from day-to-day communication in your family.