Employing an au pair in South Africa
Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA)
Last reviewed
This is general guidance, not legal advice.
Employment law changes, varies by region and depends on your exact arrangement. Figures below are researched from official sources but go out of date — always confirm the current position with the official body linked on this page, or with a qualified labour adviser, before you rely on it.
South Africa’s BCEA sets minimum standards for domestic and household employment, generally understood to cover an au pair’s childcare work in your home. Confirm anything important with the Department of Employment and Labour or a labour consultant.
Pay floor
R30.23 per hour
Effective 1 March 2026, and it covers domestic work. Verify before relying on it — the National Minimum Wage is reviewed roughly every March.
What to get right
Written contract
A written contract is a legal requirement for domestic workers under the BCEA — use the contract template in the NannyTank app as a starting point and adjust it to your situation.
Minimum wage
South Africa has a National Minimum Wage that applies per hour worked. Confirm the current rate — it’s reviewed and increased roughly every year.
UIF registration
Employers of domestic workers must register with the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) and pay monthly contributions — employer and employee each contribute roughly 1% of pay, up to a wage ceiling.
Leave entitlements
The BCEA sets minimum annual leave, sick leave (accrued over a 3-year cycle) and family responsibility leave, on top of public holidays.
Parental leave
Restructured by the Constitutional Court in Van Wyk (October 2025): a total of four months and ten days per child, shared between the parents where both are employed, and taken in full by a single or sole-employed parent. It replaced the old split of four months for a mother and ten days for a father. Adoptive and commissioning parents are treated the same. Confirm the current position — replacement legislation is still going through Parliament.
Notice period
The BCEA sets minimum notice periods for ending employment, which scale with length of service.
Overtime agreements lapse
An agreement to work overtime signed when employment starts, or in the first three months, lapses after one year under BCEA section 10(5). Renew it in writing each year, or the employee may lawfully decline overtime.
Official sources
Check these for the current position — they are the authority, this page is not.
Just hired someone?
You hired childcare. Nobody mentioned you’d also be running a payroll.
A contract you are not sure is compliant, a minimum wage that moves every March, an overtime rate nobody explained, and a sum to check every month — with someone who lives in your house and looks after your children. This is the whole of it, set up once.
The contract
A BCEA-compliant employment contract, ready to fill in and sign — the one you should have had on day one.
Their app
They log their own hours, overtime and kilometres, so the claim that arrives at month-end is already right. No sums, no back-and-forth.
And your side of it
A payslip for every month you pay them, with the UIF worked out. Every claim kept in one place. The shared schedule, so they know about Tuesday. And the children’s day, written up — so you can read on the train what they actually got up to.
R1 299 once
No subscription, no renewal, no card kept. Approving their claim stays free, always — that never needs an account or a payment.
Already have an au pair? If the contract is settled and you only want the admin gone, their app and yours is R1 099 once — a permanent licence for each of you. If they already use NannyTank themselves, the employer side alone is R699 after 14 free days.
Email us to get set up →We set these up by hand at the moment, so a real person reads your email and replies — usually the founder, within a working day.
You never see their day unless they connect you — they hold the code and chooses to share it. This is their tool, and you are paying for it the same way you cover their petrol.
An editable contract template for South Africa
NannyTank includes a downloadable employment contract template that references Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) — you fill in the agreed pay and hours. Available in the app, along with hours, overtime and claim tracking.
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NannyTank is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. This page is a starting point to help you know what to look into; it may be incomplete or out of date, and it does not account for your specific circumstances. Confirm anything you rely on with the official bodies above or a qualified adviser.