Consuming Interest
Home Help From Abroad
By LESLIE ADRIAN
FOREIGN domestic servants are flaw arriving in Britain in large family circle. • The an pair girl may turn out to be even more of a problem than the foreign maid, although initially the task of acquiring a continental domestic servant involves more red tape. The term 'au- pair' is supposed to mean what it says, that the girl (who usually has a little money of her own) should be treated on a par with the members of the family; but there is an inclina- tion to think of her as a cheap servant because it is customary to pay an an pair pocket-money —usually 30s. a week, instead of the £3.-£4 ex- pected by a regular maid on an ordinary agree- ment. The advantage is that no permit is needed for an an pair; only a letter of invitation (clearly defining the terms of the agreement about her duties, free time and pay) which is her warranty of entry. But she may not stay longer than Of time for which she was originally invited in this letter without permission from the Aliens DePart' ment of the Home Office. And, as she l' admitted to the country as a `student,' the ell' ployer has to release her for half of each day. s0 that she may study. When extensions are bell considered the Home Office asks for proof Pf minimum of fifteen hours' study a week an' their inspectors may pay unexpected calls to set' that thern an pair arrangements are not bell abused. But no NHS contributions need be Pal.° by the employer. He is her 'host'; the au pair girl is not an employee in the eyes of the MinistrY of Labour.
Sometimes it is the an pair who is unaWalle of the part she will have to play in her hosts family, and is surprised and dissatisfied with tbe duties expected of her. But her chief hazards are homesickness, uncongenial feeding habits (large breakfast and a snack lunch with the busy house" wife), draughty houses and unheated bedroon15 (this applies especially to the Swiss girls, ant.: told). Even when they have a place within ceacd of London's active social life, loneliness is har. to avoid. Almost all an pairs want to live I.11 London, and in the `best' areas : they tend to sint" homes in the London suburbs even more than those in small country towns like, say, Henley, Which have some social life of their own.
Both au pair girls and servants may be obtained Privately or through agencies. Many of the agencies that operate in the London area do so also on behalf of people in other parts of the country and they are willing to arrange for girls to be met and seen across London. One of the most reliable for au pair arrangements is the Educational Touring Service. They charge about 4.7 for the service, but guarantee to replace a girl if after a three-week trial period she seems unhappy or for some reason fails to be satis- factory.
With either kind of girl, selection is by remote control. All that will have been seen of the pros- Pective servant in most cases is a 2 x 2 in. photo and references—and not all agencies are as con- siderate as ETS. Before starting to deal with an employment agency it is essential to find out What they are prepared to do if the maid and her employer find each other uncongenial. There are at least two London agencies, the Continental Domestic Agency and the Burnett Bureau, who saY that they will either refund the fee (seven or eight guineas for a maid) or find another girl if the first arrangement does not work out after a reasonable trial period. The CDA actually print this guarantee on their application and agreement forms.
Whatever agency is used, it is advisable to Cheek that it is one licensed by the county coun- cil or other competent local authority. London County Council licences must be renewed annually, and agencies are subjected to regular Inspection. The LCC does not fix fees, but insists that they should be printed on application forms and only altered with their permission and appro- val. A regulated, and therefore reliable, agency Will have a form of words such as 'Licensed annually by the London County Council' on its letter-heading and forms; and the relevant local 4-1aws will be displayed in its offices.
There is one job that the agency cannot do for the prospective employer of a foreign maid, and that is to obtain the Ministry of Labour permit from the local Labour Exchange. The application form for this permit demands, in addition to the usual personal details, to know `. . . the steps taken to find suitable candidates from among ritish subjects (or foreigners LONG RESIDENT In the united Kingdom).' The way to answer It is to anticipate it. Before returning or even requesting the form, apply to the local Labour tschange. for a maid. None will be available. State fully this step in the appropriate space; it Will suffice. An agency may do this part of the form-filling for you, but the form itself has to be Obtained personally—It takes anything between °rie and three weeks to get the permit. It will not be issued for a girl under eighteen; and Italian girls under twenty-one are not allowed to leave Italy for domestic service here. (This, of course, does not apply to an au pair.) The labour permit is not a contract of service. It may seem unnecessary to say this, but the Illusion is widespread that once the girl is hired the employer is stuck with her, good or bad, for SIX months or a year. In the revue For Adults Only at the London Strand Theatre one sketch is based on the helplessness of the employer whose lazy Austrian maid is only whiling away six months so that she may have her baby on the National Health Service. In reality, he could (if he were hard-hearted) have her out in the snow at the end of a week's notice. She is equally free to opt out of the arrangement, but the Ministry will not look kindly on her making unjustified changes. The permit is only a Ministry authorisa- tion to hire a particular girl to a particular pros- pective employer. Private arrangements, at wages lower than the local average for domestic work, made on holiday (or through friends), are not acceptable to the Ministry of Labour, who will refuse to grant working permits.
In general, the most efficient servants come from Germany, Austria and Switzerland (rela- tively few Scandinavian girls come, because they can learn English at home and language learning is the usual motive). They need less training, often have a little English already, are willing workers, but they tend to be fastidious—some would say fussy. It is easier to get girls from Spain and Italy, but they need much more understanding and patience. Coming from primitive peasant homes, the complicated equipment of a modern English household is naturally baffling and city life rather frightening. (One Italian peasant girl I know of will not leave the house unless accom- panied by her employer.) The Basques are better cooks as well as more efficient servants than the southern Spanish. Some Yugoslav girls have been coming to Britain, but, as might be ex- pected, the formalities are protracted. There are also a few from Greece; they, too, lack the sophistication of the central European girl.
With this greatly increased supply of foreign domestics, there is no reason why anyone who can afford it, and is prepared to face the problems involved, should go servarffless. There is, however, one other consideration to bear in mind when calculating the cost of this kind of labour. When a girl cannot afford her own fare, it is usually advanced by the employer and later subtracted in instalments from her wages. The usual period of engagement is one year (it is hard to get any foreign maid to agree to a longer period); and often, as an inducement to stay for the full twelve months, employers have also to offer to help with the fare home.
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