The National Minimum Wage (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2023, a statutory instrument that passed through Parliament this week, removes the live-in domestic worker exemption under the National Minimum Wage Regulations 2015 that states that tasks done by an individual who resides in an employer’s home are not “work” and does not need to be paid the legal minimum rate.
The exemption was introduced in 1999 mainly to facilitate au pair placements, which allowed young people from abroad to participate in cultural exchange through living with a family in the UK. In exchange for accommodation, au pairs would be given light housework or childcare duties.
