Hi Everyone,
I am just looking into the possibility of getting an Au Pair and was wondering whether it was possible for the Au Pair to register with centrelink so we could claim child care rebate?
Has anyone got any experiences or advice they can offer in regards to Au Pairs and whether you would do it all again?
I am editing this to get any more insight into anyone that has an Au Pair right now
Thanks
Welcome to the Lo-Fi, text only version of Essential Baby's forums.
The Essential Baby forums cover all areas of parenting and stages development for babies, toddlers and kids as well as parenting lifestyle areas including Family Travel, Finances, Nutrition & Wellbeing, Recipes and more! If you'd like to post and interact with EB's parenting forums read more articles about conception, pregnancy, babies, toddlers, kids or more please visit Essential Baby for the full site experience.
The Essential Baby forums cover all areas of parenting and stages development for babies, toddlers and kids as well as parenting lifestyle areas including Family Travel, Finances, Nutrition & Wellbeing, Recipes and more! If you'd like to post and interact with EB's parenting forums read more articles about conception, pregnancy, babies, toddlers, kids or more please visit Essential Baby for the full site experience.
Full Version: Au Pairs- Can they register with Centrelink?
HOME | CONCEPTION | PREGNANCY | BIRTH | BABY | TODDLER | KIDS | LIFESTYLE | TOOLS
Essential Baby > Daycare, Pre-School and School > Daycare, Babysitters & Nannies
Essential Baby > Daycare, Pre-School and School > Daycare, Babysitters & Nannies
You can't get CCR for a nanny (except in very specific circumstances), so I doubt that you would get it for an aupair.
My understanding of an international Au Pair is that they're here for a "holiday". They stay with you and you give them "pocket money" in return for baby sitting. So they're not actually employed by you because they don't come here with a working visa. So because they're not working for you they can't register for you to get CCR.
Happy to be corrected if I'm wrong though
If you don't get too many replies, do a search. There's been a few threads recently about them which is what sparked our interest. The only reason why we didn't decide to go down that path is the having to share our home & empty out a room for the person. Not something we could do in the time frame we had. We've instead decided to use family for outside childcare hours. It's something that I would again look into down the track though...
Happy to be corrected if I'm wrong though
If you don't get too many replies, do a search. There's been a few threads recently about them which is what sparked our interest. The only reason why we didn't decide to go down that path is the having to share our home & empty out a room for the person. Not something we could do in the time frame we had. We've instead decided to use family for outside childcare hours. It's something that I would again look into down the track though...
au pairs aren't child care workers anyway.
the traditional definition of an au pair is a language student living in a family. She gets board and an opportunity to practise her English and the family gets some household help for max 20 hrs per week - like light housework, meal prep, and maybe extra pair of hands.
Generally, au pairs have no formal childcare quals and limited experience and should not be expected to have sole charge of babies at all, and not of children for extended periods. This is the European concept of au pairs.
My understanding of the current use of the term 'au pair' in Australia is that they are working holiday makers or tourists with limited work rights. It's an informal (and possibly unlawful) arrangement. The person might have childcare experience or quals, but not necessarily. They may not have work rights attached to their visa, so living in allows them to fly under the radar.
Informal arrangements where they do chores in exchange for board and pocket money are not within the scope of the Fair Work Act or other industrial laws. In Australia the 'work' done by an au pair would be cleaning, childcare, cooking or something else. In any case, it would be covered by an award, and award rates should be paid, tax with-held, super contributions paid to the ATO and work cover insurance paid.
For all these reasons, i seriously doubt you could register an au pair you pay pocket money for a government rebate on childcare. Even drawing the government's attention to the arrangement you have with such a person could put you and the person in a bit of trouble.
Just a few things to be aware of - and to discuss with any agency who collects fees for placing 'au pairs.'
the traditional definition of an au pair is a language student living in a family. She gets board and an opportunity to practise her English and the family gets some household help for max 20 hrs per week - like light housework, meal prep, and maybe extra pair of hands.
Generally, au pairs have no formal childcare quals and limited experience and should not be expected to have sole charge of babies at all, and not of children for extended periods. This is the European concept of au pairs.
My understanding of the current use of the term 'au pair' in Australia is that they are working holiday makers or tourists with limited work rights. It's an informal (and possibly unlawful) arrangement. The person might have childcare experience or quals, but not necessarily. They may not have work rights attached to their visa, so living in allows them to fly under the radar.
Informal arrangements where they do chores in exchange for board and pocket money are not within the scope of the Fair Work Act or other industrial laws. In Australia the 'work' done by an au pair would be cleaning, childcare, cooking or something else. In any case, it would be covered by an award, and award rates should be paid, tax with-held, super contributions paid to the ATO and work cover insurance paid.
For all these reasons, i seriously doubt you could register an au pair you pay pocket money for a government rebate on childcare. Even drawing the government's attention to the arrangement you have with such a person could put you and the person in a bit of trouble.
Just a few things to be aware of - and to discuss with any agency who collects fees for placing 'au pairs.'
QUOTE
Aupair Visa Australia - Au Pair Program in Australia
Australia does not have an official au pair program, however the Working Holiday Program and the new Work and Holiday visa provides opportunities for people between 18 and 30 from some countries (see below) to holiday in Australia and to supplement their travel funds through incidental employment.
Working Holiday visa: (417)
The Working Holiday Program provides opportunities for people between 18 and 30 to holiday in Australia and to supplement their travel funds through incidental employment of up to 12 months. You are allowed to do any kind of work of a temporary or casual nature, but work for more than six months with any one employer is not permitted.
Australia has reciprocal Working Holiday Maker arrangements in effect with Belgium, Canada, Republic of Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, HKSAR*, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malta, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Taiwan, & the United Kingdom.
Australia does not have an official au pair program, however the Working Holiday Program and the new Work and Holiday visa provides opportunities for people between 18 and 30 from some countries (see below) to holiday in Australia and to supplement their travel funds through incidental employment.
Working Holiday visa: (417)
The Working Holiday Program provides opportunities for people between 18 and 30 to holiday in Australia and to supplement their travel funds through incidental employment of up to 12 months. You are allowed to do any kind of work of a temporary or casual nature, but work for more than six months with any one employer is not permitted.
Australia has reciprocal Working Holiday Maker arrangements in effect with Belgium, Canada, Republic of Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, HKSAR*, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malta, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Taiwan, & the United Kingdom.
http://aupair-visa-australia.greataupair.com/
Hi Jools,
We have had two Au pairs, third one on her way! Our experience has been great. The info re working visas is correct. All our Au pairs come in on working visas as I wanted it to be above board.
If you have any specific questions I would be more than happy to answer any questions that you have.
Vicki
We have had two Au pairs, third one on her way! Our experience has been great. The info re working visas is correct. All our Au pairs come in on working visas as I wanted it to be above board.
If you have any specific questions I would be more than happy to answer any questions that you have.
Vicki
QUOTE (tothebeach @ 08/11/2010, 09:57 PM) 
You can't get CCR for a nanny (except in very specific circumstances), so I doubt that you would get it for an aupair.
A nanny can register with centrelink for some rebate but it is like 30 cents an hour from memory when i registered a few years ago. My current employer claims. Also you can get a nanny through a registered agency and get proper rebate if you fall within the guidelines.
Au-pairs no.
Hi
I live in Sydney and so far I know that you can not claim childcare rebate having an au pair, however, one of my best friends who lives in Brisbane got an au pair from Au pair Australia and they have been able to claim child care benefits as it seems that the Queensland Government allows it. I hope they will offer it here in NSW one day, any way, even without, is very affordable as it is only about $6 or 7 per hour
I live in Sydney and so far I know that you can not claim childcare rebate having an au pair, however, one of my best friends who lives in Brisbane got an au pair from Au pair Australia and they have been able to claim child care benefits as it seems that the Queensland Government allows it. I hope they will offer it here in NSW one day, any way, even without, is very affordable as it is only about $6 or 7 per hour
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.
Essential Baby is the place to find parenting information and parenting support relating to conception, pregnancy, birth, babies, toddlers, kids, maternity, family budgeting, family travel, nutrition and wellbeing, family entertainment, tips for the family home, child-friendly recipes and parenting. Try our pregnancy due date calculator to determine your due date, or our ovulation calculator to predict ovulation and your fertile period. Our pregnancy week by week guide shows your baby's stages of development. Access our very active mum's discussion groups in the Essential Baby forums to talk to mums about conception, pregnancy, birth, babies, toddlers, kids and parenting lifestyle. Essential Baby also offers a baby names database of more than 22,000 baby names, popular baby names, boys' names, girls' names and baby names advice in our baby names forum. For the latest baby clothes, maternity clothes, maternity accessories, toddler products, kids toys and kids clothing, breastfeeding and other parenting resources, check out Essential Baby.