If you’d booked a babysitter

Whenever I have to pay someone via bank transfer I do it right away, as soon as they told me how much I owe them.

I’m interested in how many people leave meals and pay for taxis home for babysitters, on top of paying them (presumably) - this must really add up, can I ask how much would be typical? Do you do the same for cleaners, or any other trades and if not, why specifically for babysitters?

I always leave a choice of food and snacks and will either drop the babysitter home or pay for her taxi. She’s looking after my children usually until late in the evening she will often be feeding my kids and should be able to eat too and I want her to get home safely. It’s not the same as cleaning or any other trade.

Ideally everyone should be given an estimate before the job total as you leave and pay on the day, but sending a reminder the next day is reasonable as a prompt. I don't think you should be leaving it until 9.30am to send the bill, people might then be in meetings all day and unable to pay then forget by the evening.

I think it’s ridiculous to keep reminding people to pay you for a service they have already used. These are adults with responsibilities, they shouldn’t need all the stars to align to remember paying someone. Its disrespectful of others time and effort to not simply pay them. Why should she need to time her reminder just right for them to pay her on time.

I think the difference is the time of night they are going home. When I used to work in an office, if I worked later than 9pm my employer would pay for a taxi home.

I couldn’t in good consciousness let a woman or a teen leave my house after midnight without ensuring she got home safely.

That is not correct. Everyone only gets one tax allowance, there is not a tax allowance per job. Think about it for a moment, and you'll see why it couldn't work that way.

Ideally everyone should be given an estimate before the job total as you leave and pay on the day, but sending a reminder the next day is reasonable as a prompt. I don't think you should be leaving it until 9.30am to send the bill, people might then be in meetings all day and unable to pay then forget by the evening. Send it on the night or 7am latest so it can be sorted out outside of their working time if you want to ensure prompt payment.

I would expect to leave pizza or something for a teenager (and would have checked what they eat, but for a grown adult setting out their meal seems a bit strange. When BIL babysat, we just left £20 in the kitchen to order whatever he wanted. I think you need to request before you go if you want food, as people won't know what you eat. The meal plus uber must be adding £25 -£30 to the cost for families, so it's all best to be declared. It may be easier to just use the family's uber account rather than having it charged and mixed up with your income.

I think your terms are reasonable. I think people who expect a self employed person to offer credit even for a day or two are piss takers. It’s interesting that they are willing to pay the restaurant upon receipt of the service, but the person who has been caring for their child they treat less favourably.

With people like that you need to be very clear what your terms of business when you first speak to them, when you confirm the booking and when you arrive. Having an app on your phone to process payment while you are there will probably eliminate the problem.

It's really not.

As PP have said, the £1,000 threshold limit where you don't need to register is for trading income, not total income.

You can't have 10 different trades at £1,000 each - it is only one £1,000 limit for any self employment income.

https://www.gov.uk/stop-being-self-employed#:~:text=If%20you'll%20earn%20%C2%A3,Class%202%20National%20Insurance%20payments

You’d be paid before you left my house, and I’d have also covered your taxi home so you didn’t have to pay for it.

They are CFs.

Why are you even comparing a decorator to someone provide childcare late into the night?

I always used to leave snacks/ Coke/ nibbles etc for babysitters.
And provide a taxi home if it was late late (post 12) and non drivers.
I do think employing local teens is very different with a different set of expectations than a nanny.
@FanofLeavesHope they pay you soon.

If you’re not stating your payment terms up front, then I think it’s unreasonable to get frustrated that people aren’t guessing your expectations.

a new payee on my internet banking needs tow factor authentication, and in practical terms generally needs the PC rather than doing it on my phone. So when someone says ‘pay by bank transfer is fine’ that implies to me ‘next time you’re doing computer stuff in the next few days’. Because to me, no one would think that’s a sensible thing to do doing when babysitter is waiting to go home, or first thing the next day.

I get that if you’ve got less stringent banking then it’s quick and easy instant, but there’s such a range in banking apps that it’s not realistic to assume everyone can do that.

If you don’t like chasing, set your terms up front. Eg. Happy to take payment by cash on the night, or bank transfer that night or following day. Bank details are…… in case you need them to set up a new payee ahead of time.

As others have said - if earning over £1000 a year in a 2nd job /self employed you need to register as self employed and do a tax return

if you babysit every week even once then very likely you earn over £1000 as weekly earnings would be £20

every other week then £40 a sit

sure many don’t declare the cash they earn but should

if you bs once a month and earning over £80 a babysit then will earn over £1000

I just had a babysitter for the first time in years and we paid £20/hour but rounded up so he had an extra £10 for a taxi. We got in oven pizzas for the kids so got one for him and of course he was welcome to anything else in the house. Do people really not feed babysitters?

I would always have paid for the taxi for them, best scenario they take my taxi away home. I’d also provide snacks and dinner if it was over that time

I’m interested in how many people leave meals and pay for taxis home for babysitters, on top of paying them (presumably) - this must really add up, can I ask how much would be typical? Do you do the same for cleaners, or any other trades and if not, why specifically for babysitters?

We just tend to have one of several local teenagers whose families we know and live doors, not taxi rides, away. So it’s never come up.

You’re clearly not going to but you should be declaring the income unless it’s under the amounts noted above.

https://taxhelpforhustles.campaign.gov.uk/ive-got-a-side-gig/

Different jobs have different t&C's. This can't be news to you.

I'd think it was odd if my decorator started playing with my kids or my babysitter painted my hallway.

I don't find it odd that two people who do two very different jobs charge different hourly rates/expect different treatment. In much the same way I tip my hairdresser, but not my dentist for example.

This used to piss me right off as a cleaner, some people just think it's OK to leave you waiting for ages, as if you don't do the job cos you need the money

The tax free amount presumably would already be accounted for on your main salary. If you were just babysitting and earning under the threshold - like the neighbour teen babysitter scenario, you wouldn’t need to do self assessment. If your main salary is to over the threshold (or will be with babysitting money added) you likely should do a tax return, state your salary and declare your extra self employed babysitting income.

If you're earning £100 for one single night of babysitting and it's not a one off you can be almost certain that you should have been declaring it. Kindly, I'd recommend looking into it - if the tax office get hold of this it could be serious.

That’s tax evasion / fraud. This work needs submitting at the end of the tax year and they will work out your tax on it. Your 2 jobs get merged together.

or are you joking and realise this ?! If not wow

Are you saying both your jobs income combined is less than the taxable threshold?