Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential effect on working parents who rely on au pairs for childcare of the decision not to grant a dedicated immigration route for au pairs from the EU.

As has been the case since 2008, successive governments have decided the UK’s immigration system should not offer a dedicated visa route for au pairs.

Those who wish to employ an au pair can either look to offer a package which makes it attractive to those with general rights to work in the UK, such as those who arrive under our Youth Mobility Schemes, or dependants of people already settled in the UK, or use the wide range of childcare options in the UK relied upon by most families.