Babysitting Costs

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I personally use buses/walk at night in London all the time so I don't feel the need to pay for taxis for babysitters - I feel they can exercise their own judgement on how they get home.

You could definitely find an equally (or more TBH) experienced babysitter for considerably less money but I can see that the awake 4 year old might make that difficult

Ubers!

My friend is a childcare professional.
She is my age (39) with a BA in childhood studies and level 3 diploma in childcare. She charges between £12/14 an hour for evening babysitting. No way would she charge £24 per child even with her vast experience and qualifications. She also makes her own way home via public transport and doesn't ask for users.

I actually think £18 is fair. In London, I pay £15 for my child's former nursery key worker to babysit her, so I think for 2 children for an experienced babysitter that's a reasonable rate.

I think she's being cheeky. That is a ridiculous price to pay for someone who isn't university qualified! When I was younger I was lucky to get about £10 for 5 hours! About £15 seems fair, I would put your foot down and tell her you can't afford it. If people keep paying these ridiculous prices they will continue to increase!

I’m glad you’ve come to a decision you’re both happy with.
And I’m really glad that we had so much family around when ours were small! Used to leave a niece with money for a takeaway, £20 and a taxi home for ours 😂

It’s night time, they’ll probably not even know they’ve gone out.

People negotiate fees all the time, in all sorts of jobs!

Wow. I've been a children's nanny for 34 years and get £15ph and I've worked up to that over the years. Babysitters don't usually charge per child, they charge per hour, no matter how many children there are. I've never heard of any babysitter doing that. I'd look at babysitting websites.

I’d be direct.

Say it’s too expensive and you can’t afford it, but you could offer eg £15 an hour or £18 an hour.

And see what she says.

It’s not twice as much for her. Is she really saying she’d charge a family with four kids £48 an hour?

FYI I pay £15 an hour, good money given they’re asleep all the time the babysitter is here usually!

Talking to her is an insult. She is running a business and that's her rate.

You wouldn't do it with any other service you pay for, you either pay or seek another business that suits your budget

I have no idea if the price is reasonable or expensive, maybe she prefers to babysit only one child so deliberately prices herself.

That sounds a lot more reasonable though still very much on the expensive side.

Will you still do the taxi/food?

Babysitting fee per child is not a thing and something she will quickly learn if she is trying to get a bank of extra babysitting work. £24p/h is certainly too high by anyone's standards. Even experienced nannies are very rarely paid that rate, and are paid by the hour regardless of number of children.

£15-18 is standard for a babysitter with childcare qualifications.

This was something that occurred to me too! My friend babysits for our youngest (age 10) occasionally. She is a qualified teacher though works as a social worker and has previously worked as a nanny. She charges us £10ph "mates rates" and said her usual hourly rate would be £12-14 depending on how many children, how old, how late etc.

Our neighbour asked her to quote for babysitting. He's a single parent with a 4 year old and 1 year old twins (long story). But he wanted her to come early afternoon, give them dinner and put them to bed. She remarked to me that it was a big ask for weekend babysitting and she wasn't too keen. I don't know what she quoted exactly but he didn't accept as he thought her rates were too high!

I pay £10/hr for 2 kids but I guess she isn't qualified and it was only from about age 2 and mine at that point were always asleep (we went out after bedtime). I can barely afford the £10/hr so definitely wouldn't be able to pay £24!

Yeah that’s taking the piss. I’d say £15-18 is the going rate, probably towards the upper end for her since she’s qualified.
But does your 4YO really stay up watching TV the whole time you’re gone even if it’s late? Maybe that’s putting her off sitting for you unless she can get paid double, but she doesn’t want to say so because you use her nursery, so she’s using the 2nd kid as an excuse???

Just another thought OP - do you think maybe she's not comfortable babysitting for you for some reason and doesn't want to anymore? A lot less awkward to just charge a price she knows you won't pay, rather than say it to your face!

This is useful to see

https://joinbubble.com/parent-guides/babysitting-rates-uk-2_15070.html#:~:text=The%20average%20rate%20for%20a,locations%2C%20sitters%20may%20charge%20extra.

Will she be paying £8 of that in tax? I bloody doubt it!!

We are in London and pay £12/hr for a qualified babysitter for two children. We also don't do food (I personally find this weird - I would prefer to sort out my own food than have someone assume they know what I like) or taxi.

There's no way you need to pay £24/hr. I would tell her that is too much and you'll find someone else