Au-Pair Contract: What Must Be Included? The Checklist for Host Families and Au-Pairs
Photo: MART PRODUCTION / Pexels
Aau‑pair contract should include: names of both parties, start date and duration, hours per day and week, days off and vacation, pocket money, room and board, language course, insurance, duties, and what happens if it doesn’t work out. If there is an official template, use that.
An au‑pair stay is a cultural exchange with child care, not a regular job. Many arrangements therefore remain verbal, and after a few weeks disputes arise about evening babysitting, the free Saturday, or the language course. A written contract protects both sides: the host family, which knows what it can rely on, and the au‑pair, who lives far from home and needs their rights spelled out in black and white.
This guide shows which points belong in the contract, how they are regulated in Germany, and where other countries differ. All figures come from official sources, as of September 2026. Important: This is not legal advice, and AuPairMatch does not issue contracts.
Why a written contract?
There is no Europe-wide uniform au-pair contract. The only international framework is the European Convention on the Employment of Au Pairs of the Council of Europe from 1969 (ETS No. 68). It is currently in force in Denmark, France, Italy and Spain. Article 6 requires a written agreement, concluded before departure or at the latest in the first week of the stay.
Other countries regulate it nationally. Germany, Austria and France have an official model contract, the Netherlands require a written contract. Even where nothing is mandated, having something on paper is worthwhile: you discuss everything before arrival that could later become difficult. For Germany, the Federal Employment Agency provides a free model contract; use it as a basis.
The checklist: What belongs in the contract
Source for the German figures: information sheet and sample contract of the Federal Employment Agency (PDF), as well as § 12 Employment Regulation, as of September 2026.
| Point | What belongs in it | Example Germany (source) |
|---|---|---|
| Contract Parties | Full name, address, date of birth and nationality of the au pair, names and ages of the children | see BA sample contract |
| Start and Duration | Arrival day, start, end; whether an extension is possible | 6 to 12 months (BA) |
| Hours | Maximum number per day and week, plus a rough weekly schedule; include evening babysitting. | maximum 6 hours per day, 30 per week (BA) |
| Free days and vacation | Which days are off, how to request vacation, and what applies to family holidays. | 1.5 days off per week, 20 vacation days (BA) |
| Pocket money | Amount, payday, payment method (bank transfer or cash), what applies in case of illness or vacation | at least €280 per month (BA) |
| Room and board | Private room with a brief description, meals with the family | Enter the room and meals specifically in the template contract. |
| Language course | Which course, at what times, who pays how much | The family contributes €70 per month (BA) |
| Insurance | Which insurance policies, who takes them out and pays for them, and from when they are effective. | Host family covers the costs (BA) |
| Tasks | Describe childcare concretely: children, routes, times; what is explicitly not included. | Childcare and light household tasks related to the children (BA) |
| House Rules | Visit, mobile phone, car, smoking, coming home in the evening; fair and understandable for everyone | not legally regulated, freely agreed |
| End and transition | How both parties can terminate the stay early, who pays for the return trip, and how a conversation beforehand proceeds. | Specify it in the contract; check what the sample contract provides for this. |
| Signature and Language | Date, signatures of both parties, one copy each; a version in a language the au pair understands. | sign before arrival |
The delicate points in more detail
Hours: Don’t just write the maximum number, but include a sample weekly schedule. Count evening babysitting as care time as well. If you want to read the limits per country: Au-Pair Working Hours and Days Off.
Tasks: An Au-Pair looks after children; they are not a housekeeper. The German information sheet explicitly allows only “light household tasks related to the children,” such as tidying the children’s room or making a snack for the children. Deep cleaning, laundry for the whole family, or the weekly grocery shop are not part of the contract.
Allowance: Specify the amount, payment day and payment method. The amount varies greatly from country to country; in some countries it is a minimum amount, in others a maximum amount. You can find the overview in the Allowance Country Comparison.
Insurance: Record who takes out which insurance and from which day it is valid, preferably with proof before arrival. What a host family in Germany needs is listed in the guide Au-Pair Insurance for Host Families.
House Rules: Rules about visitors, car use or returning late are fine as long as they are fair to an adult member of the family. Better than a fixed time: let each other know when you will be back.
If it doesn’t work out: Even good placements can fail. Write down how an ending is handled: first an open conversation, then a deadline you set together, and who pays for the return trip. Check what the official template of your country provides instead of inventing deadlines.
Countries regulate it very differently.
Anyone who goes to another country or hosts an au-pair from abroad needs the rules of the destination country. The following overview is based on our officially researched country data, as of September 2026.
| Country | Contract | Hours and days off | Pocket money | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | official template contract | max. 6 hrs/day, 30 hrs/week, 1.5 days off per week | minimum €280 per month, €70 per month for the language course | Federal Employment Agency |
| Austria | official template contract | max. 16.5 h/week, 1 day off per week | minimum €551.10 per month (starting 01.01.2026) | AMS, Sample Contract 2026 |
| France | official agreement ("convention") before departure; room at least 9 m² with a window | max. 25 hrs/week, 1 day off per week, language course mandatory | minimum 320 €/month | service-public.gouv.fr |
| Netherlands | Written contract required; non‑EU nationals only through an IND‑approved agency. | max. 8 hrs/day, 30 hrs/week, 2 days off per week | up to €340 per month | IND, Rijksoverheid |
| Italy | written contract (ETS 68) | typically up to 5 hours per day, one full day off per week, at least one Sunday per month | freely agreed, amount in the contract | ETS 68, Art. 6, 8, 9 |
| Spain | written contract (ETS 68); no au-pair residence permit for non-EU citizens | typically up to 5 hours per day, one full day off per week, at least one Sunday per month | freely agreed, amount in the contract | ETS 68, BOE |
For Italy and Spain, Article 10 of the agreement also applies: the au‑pair must have health insurance. Spain has stated that the family covers half of it. In the Netherlands, according to our data, the au‑pair pays the insurance; in Austria and France it is covered by statutory social insurance. Such differences should be explicitly included in the contract.
Common mistakes: only verbal agreements; evening babysitting not counted; cleaning or cooking for the whole family listed as duties; no mention of a language course; insurance only after arrival; contract only in German, even though the au pair does not understand it; no rule regarding early termination of the stay.
Before signing, it's best to go through the contract together, using a sample weekly schedule. Both sign before arrival, each keeps a copy, and the proof of insurance is included right away.
AuPairMatch helps with the part before that: family profiles show working hours, pocket money and room at a glance, messages in the chat are automatically translated, and after the match you can meet via video in the app and discuss the contract point by point. The contract itself is concluded directly between you, AuPairMatch is not an agency and does not provide legal advice. A compact overview for parents of Au‑Pairs can be found in the legal parent check.
First get to know each other, then sign
Create a profile, find suitable families or au-pairs, and discuss all contract points via video — free during the startup phase.