Au-pair - Who pays for insurance and English classes ?

RacingSilver

Hi
My sister-in-law is trying to get an au-pair, and had made contact with a girl from Poland. They have agreed hours and salary, but now the au-pair is asking about insurance and English classes. She says that when she did this before the host family paid for the insurance and for an English course in college.
Is this standard ?
If so, then that is fine, but we are just wondering.

Any help appreciated.

This

1 years basic health insurance and 1 year of english classes would usually be standard.

I know some health insurance companies have 'add' ons where you can add the au pair/nanny for a year or so.

Although the E111 will usually cover any costs that may incur

RacingSilver

Thanks for the reply.
I'm a bit confused now however. I also posted this question on another website, and the person who responded said that she has never paid any insurance for her au-pairs, she has paid for some English classes but these would be regarded as perks. She says that it is definitely not standard practice to cover these.
Any other comments ?

herya

I have definitely heard of language classes being paid for by the host family (often it's the main point of coming over for the girl); health insurance seems to be popular too, it is offered by insurers as an add-on to your standard policy. Depending on the country of origin, the girl might not be covered by her country's insurance (in some countries you need to be either working or registered as unemployed to be insured by the state) which would leave her without any cover in Ireland.

Gudgeoon

I pay for language classes and all medical costs for au pairs. This should be agreed in advance.

This

well if you think about it, the au pair gets injured becomes ill, you would obvo like her to get better and treated asap if you pay you know she will defo get the medical attention.

I knew a family you had hired a lady from estonia, and she seemed to be ill alot and always claimed she could not pay for doctors and medical bills and actually ended up just having a bit of a holiday. Im not saying this will happen but you always have to think of the worst case. as regards english classes, i would think any family with young kids would like their employee to have a good grasp of the english lanuage... the same au pairs english was awful (after she refused english classes) and the youngest child was just almost 2 and ended up not being able to form proper sentences and using words in the wrong sense etc they are still working on her a year later!

dosed

because I wasnt working in an EU country, the family paid insurance for me. They also offered to pay for language classes (they paid for these with past au pairs).

supplying a mobile phone and covering phone costs assosiated with the childcare is usual too.