To ask how much you’d expect a babysitter to cost on NYE

He does sound a bit of a pisstaker. 60 is too low for NYE and short notice.

That said, she’ll be getting cash in hand and presumably isn’t DBS checked or whatever. So can’t really command “professional” rates.

So I think on balance £85 is alright. But then, time is running rather short so his best option is to up it to £100 pretty damn quick.

That might change how much she is willing to do the babysitting for - but shouldn't change how much the parents are willing to pay for it.

So? The lack of other possible available babysitters makes the OP's daughter's availability very valuable.

She can trade that for the highest value possible, or she can enjoy a night at home not working for a cheapskate manager who'd nitpick over £15 on NYE, which would barely buy him two drinks.

(The cheapskate manager has counter-offered £85, the clock is ticking and he is risking his plan s ove4r what to him must be a pittance.)

Bloody hell £20 for the whole evening? is it the 90s again?

But Op said she had no other plans.

@maddiemookins16mum very easy to be so benevolent when it's hypothetical!

£75. £15 per hour.

She's a 20 year old who could be out having a great time with friends. My DC at 17 was paid more than that for NYC a few years ago. (And no, not in London of the South East)

You're not paying for the arduous labour, you're paying for someone to give up their night out in favour of yours. If you want childcare on the biggest Going Out night of the year, probably for at least 5 hours and quite possibly more, you have to pay a premium.

Of course they aren't. All this minimum wage nonsense, it's not a 'proper' job, it's an informal bit of babysitting.

@ThatMauveRaven- what did your DD decide on in the end?

Her worth? She's an unqualified girl just out of her teens (with probably little experience with children) who had no other plans for NYE so I'd say £60 is a decent offer for her.

HNRTFT but £100 minimum. When I was 20 I wouldn’t have agreed to babysit unless I was very well paid!

Good for you and your DD learning to know her worth, negotiate and turn down a cheeky offer at a young age. She'll go far and I hope she spends the evening doing something nice!

I would go for an hourly rate rather than a flat fee as they may well be late home (hard to get a cab on NYE) so £15 p/h, definitely no less.

Yes, she can decide if it's worth her time or not. My point was that the offer is reasonable/not cheeky/seems generous to me. I don't think anyone is suggesting she has to do it.

And she has the right to name her price it say no! She doesn't want to do it for less than £100.

And that's fine.

As a side-note, I do some tutoring. I used to charge no less than £50 per hour. Some people thought that was way too expensive; that's fine. So don't hire me. Some people thought I was worth the money so did hire me. Also fine. These days I won't tutor for anything less than £60/70 an hour (I don't really have the time for it to be honest, and it needs to be really worth my while for me to do it). I'm not holding a gun to anyone's head - they can hire me or not. The same applies to this young lady in her situation. She has named the price she would like for this service, and it's entirely up to this man if he wants to hire her or not. Simple.

In this case the children are 4 years and 18months. I wouldn’t hire a local teen with such small children.

Seems fair, she is not paying any tax or NI on that, so for cash in hand it's a win. Plus any food she wants. If you want more money then register as a babysitter and have all the dbs checks and self assessment

Oh give over loads of people hire teens (often friend's older children) it’s totally normal. Perhaps not looking after very small children, granted.

My youngest child is now 23 and I paid at least £10 an hour for babysitting.

I don’t understand mn sometimes. Recently someone had a work or interview emergency, another thread about someone whose partner couldn’t attend the birth of DC2 because of lack of childcare. I suggested using childcare agencies, booking a dbs and reference checked nanny and other posters went mad, you are crazy leaving your kids with a stranger, are you insane etc?

but if you want to go out, it’s apparently fine to leave your kids AND home with any local teen and ideally pay £5 an hour and a take away. And yes in an ideal world they are sleeping, but they might not be or wake up. Especially at NYE and with 18m old.
I still want the person to be reliable, responsible and not get drunk or invite mates for a party.

Well most responsible people don’t hire a local teen to watch their children and home, especially when they are that small. I prefer not to go out or limit it to a few times a year than have a 16 year old in charge of my kids.

Just out of interest is anyone on here actually paying £150 to someone to babysit their children this evening?