I would have thought the Tories would have allowed au pairs to enter the UK. Now they have to take care of their children themselves.
Why can’t British people do that job then?
Paragraph three in the article spells it out.
The whole point is the “cultural enrichment” that comes from using a low paid foreigner for child care.
Meh, if you need someone to take care of your children, pay them. Sure, it’s probably cheaper and more fun if you employ some youth from the exotic, let me check if I’m saying it right, European Union, but I’m sure a big part of that was the cheaper part, since any British youth probably won’t need accommodation.
And there’s certainly a chance that the image possible au pairs have has changed from the UK being a fun place they’d love to go to, to a place that wouldn’t like having them around.
It’s not like it’s agriculture work that would require Brits to go live in some village in the middle of nowhere for a few months of the year.
Brits for Britain indeed, I suppose.
Merrie Olde England is just around the corner, just you wait! It’ll all be church fêtes, fun faires, pints at the pub with one’s mates, fish and chips, tea and crumpets and all that.
And Father Brown will be there in case there are any murders that need solving. ;-)
The whole point is the low-cost nanny services. The ‘cultural exchange’ rubbish is tacked on to justify the low wages. Like in most low-wage work, the people doing the work do it because they have few alternatives.
My wife was an Au Pair in Germany for a year, very much a thing she wanted to do to get better mastery of the German Language before pursuing German linguistics on scholarship at Berkeley, from which somehow translated into tech jobs… so it’s not just a grubby last resort thing to do.
I also befriended some Quebecois Au Pairs in the Bay area (I missed the language) and they were all happily doing it until they moved on with their next things, some getting married to Americans and others going back home with life experience and better English language skills.
Also, childcare in the UK (as in the US) is grotesquely expensive (or should I say, as expensive as it should be without subsidy), so much so most women might as well not work, other than for satisfaction or staying relevant in their field; so it’s a net positive for the government and economy to allow these possibilities if they’re going to forgo providing more comprehensive subsidies.
or men?
Proportionately not, but sure.
I’m sure it was a great opportunity for cultural enrichment, but since Brexit has put a dampener on that, simply pay British people.
Less cultural exchange, more expensive child care, but it’s not like it’s this big mystery to fix.
All of which are delicious and worth promoting.
And only negatively affected by Brexit, specifically supply issues.
Wrong!!
Most au pairs get free food and board, and some money ontop. That stuff gets very expensive very fast if you try and go the full immersion route for learning a language.
Like slaves who make tips!
Have you never been on an exchange program? Or are you just being an idiot?
I’m not the idiot saying room and board is adequate compensation for labor.
I’m sure lots of people have used the au pair system to immerse themselves in a new language and a new culture while the people providing that immersion had a cheaper way to take care of their kids, while other people got exploited, same as everything.
But, good or bad, it’s now going to be a pain in the ass to be a foreign au pair in Britain, or for a British person to do the same in the EU, so, it’s done, you want someone to take care of the kids, great, pay someone who doesn’t need to be immersed in British culture to learn English / gain life experience / spend time in the UK without having to sell organs.
I’d chalk it up to You won, get over it, but I imagine most people wanting an au pair probably didn’t vote for Brexit.
Try doing a full immersion foreign language course, which is what I was comparing it to.
I would say read what I wrote, but I know you did, and ignored it.
By way of anecdote, my Spanish course was 5 months and set me back £5,000, most of which was (overpriced) accommodation in Madrid, in 2010/2011 (when the Spanish economy was worse off than it is now. I am reliably informed accommodation in Madrid has become pricier)
Were I au-pair suitable, I’d definitely have considered that.
Shhh, you’ll make Tim Martin angry.