Prime minister Tony Blair chose talks on enlarging the European Union last November to tell his Polish counterpart that his country and five others could send au pairs to the UK. The extension of the au pair scheme from last month (see box below) appeared to be a gesture of friendship to the latest clutch of former communist states seeking membership of the European family.
Home Office minister Beverley Hughes said that by extending the scheme, the UK Government hoped it would 'help both the young people who want to have the enriching cultural experience of coming to the UK, and the British families they will stay with'.
Yet a month earlier, Ms Hughes had informed the House of Commons that the number of au pairs from non-EU countries had fallen from around 16,000 in 1998 to just under 12,000 in 2001, a drop of about 4,000. Curiously, that's exactly the number the Government hopes to secure by extending the scheme.
Less a case of political altruism by the UK Government, perhaps more an attempt -albeit on a small scale - to plug another gaping hole in childcare provision.
Stephen Burke, director of the Daycare Trust, says families' dependence on au pairs and nannies highlights the shortage of flexible, home-based childcare.This is a need he hopes will be addressed with the unveiling in April of the home childcarer scheme, where registered carers, such as childminders, can work in the family home.
Probably no one knows exactly how many au pairs are working in the UK. Many obtain student visas, others flout the requirement to remain in the host family home and seek better paid jobs elsewhere.
Vivienne Kaye, who runs the Nanny Agency in north London, regularly receives calls from au pairs wanting to become nannies. 'I have to tell them I can't help them, because I know they won't have the right visa and it is illegal,' she says.
What is certain is that since all EU citizens are free to work in the UK, young women - and some men - from France, Germany and other traditional sources of au pairs are taking up more lucrative employment. The shortfall could be even more drastic once all the new EU entrants enjoy similar relaxed employment regulations.
So will extension of the scheme have an impact on the Government's quest for affordable, good-quality childcare, and will it be beneficial or harmful to the people who matter most - the children?
Living allowance
Its affordability is not in question. In press briefings on the extension to the scheme, Government spokesmen said au pairs could expect 'a reasonable allowance - up to 45 a week'.
But Jean Birtles, who runs the Top Notch nanny agency, asks, 'What kind of life can anyone have on 45 a week? None whatsoever, particularly in London.
'I turn away families who are not prepared to pay their au pairs properly.
If you give your au pair around 75 to 85, which is the limit before you start having to pay tax and national insurance, then they can have a life.
'The Government could help by making it mandatory that people pay a reasonable amount to their au pairs. If people are going out to work, they can afford it.'
Maggie Dyer, who runs the London Au Pair and Nanny Agency, believes that extending the scheme to more countries will encourage greater exploitation of au pairs. 'It might seem good for business to be saturated with au pairs and place them as fast as possible, but we don't work like that,' she says.
'I never like a situation where there are more au pairs than families looking for them.'
But, according to Amanda Cotton of Nanny Search, the extension to the scheme is coinciding with growing demand. The agency recently started to place au pairs because it detected a shift in working patterns, with more part-time and home working, coupled with the deepening recession, forcing families to dispense with nannies and seek cheaper childcare options.
Ms Cotton says, 'A lot of mothers with school-age children do not need someone with two years' worth of qualifications in child development. They want to come home and find the washing has been folded up, and that some potatoes have been peeled for supper. Also, a nanny used to be looking after nought-to five-year-olds, but most four-year-olds are in school, even if it is a nursery class, so the nanny's job has narrowed.'
However, she is alarmed that some families use au pairs as a cheap form of nanny caring for very young children, even babies. 'Au pairs cannot be left with children under school age. Whatever the Government's reasons for extending the au pair scheme, if it is to provide cheap childcare, then that's shocking.'
Ms Cotton says the Government should regulate agencies to weed out those hiring out au pairs to look after children under school age. At the moment, however, her appeal is falling on deaf ears.
A spokeswoman at the Department for Education and Skills says the Government still has 'no plans to introduce compulsory registration by Ofsted of au pairs or nannies working in the child's home'.
Constant change
Amanda Cotton thinks the Government should have changed arrangements with the existing countries in the scheme, rather than extending it, so that 'where an au pair is settled and she gets on well with the family, she can apply for a year's extension to her au pair visa'. That would provide continuity for the au pair, the parents and the children, although she believes 'children are pretty resilient and tend to see au pairs as a long line of companions sent over to play with them'.
Jean Birtles, however, feels that frequent changes of au pairs 'can be upsetting and traumatising for young children. They grow to love their nanny or au pair, and if they have a constant change in childcarer it can be very disturbing for them and they don't know who to trust.'
For single parent Alan Trigele, who works in the City, trust has been an essential quality he has sought in the succession of nannies and au pairs he has recruited to look after his two daughters, now 10 and 12. He welcomes the Government's decision to extend the au pair scheme 'because it will increase the pool of available candidates'.
Apart from one Hungarian girl, who announced she was leaving two days after arriving, he says that the au pairs he has hired 'have been viewed positively by the kids, who are used to having someone from outside the family'.
He adds, 'An au pair works well where children have attained a certain emotional maturity. They are not suited to full-time care, and I get the impression that some parents think they are. When cases of abuse arise, it's often the scenario of a young au pair being left with very young children.'
Maggie Dyer has no doubt about the value of the au pair scheme. 'I think it's a fantastic way for someone to get to know a language and culture. If children are of school age, an au pair can be a breath of fresh air in a house.' The secret, she says, is matching au pairs with the right family .
She says, 'If an au pair plays the piano, find a family with one. If she is missing her pet cat, then find a home with a cat.' The job of a good agency doesn't stop there. It also involves constant monitoring to ensure the au pair is being treated fairly and being paid more than 45 a week. NW
THE AU PAIR SCHEME
* An au pair must be aged over 17 and under 27, unmarried and without dependants. They can come to the UK to study English and live with an English-speaking family for up to two years. They are expected to help in the home for up to five hours a day, with at least two full days off a week, in return for a 'reasonable' allowance and use of their own room.
* From 18 December 2002, au pairs from Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Romania have been allowed to come and work in the UK.
* Countries already in the scheme include: Bosnia Hercegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Greenland, Hungary, Macedonia, Slovenia, Switzerland and Turkey.
* Nationals from Bosnia Hercegovina, Macedonia and Turkey must obtain a visa to enter the UK.
* All EU nationals can work and study in the UK.