An increasing number of working parents are hiring nannies or au pairs, to help with looking after their young children.

Au pairs are people who will live in a family home, in return for doing domestic chores and the number of such people and nannies, being added to a car insurance policy, is causing the premium costs to increase, by as much as 400 per cent or £1,405, recent research from the financial website, confised.com has indicated.

With the beginning of the school term drawing closer, after-school activities and other events that children are involved with, the need for a car increases. However, with the addition of a nanny or au pair to a car policy, insurance providers may charge up to 184 per cent or £671; which is more than the premium of the primary driver.

Advice given to parents when employing a nanny or au pair to look after their children is to include the au pair as an extra driver when purchasing a new policy instead of making mid-term amendments which could work outs to be more expensive.