If you’d booked a babysitter

You’re getting paid by bank transfer and not declaring the income?

I hope HMRC don’t get wind of this! Self employed isn’t something you can just decide not to be. If you receive income of any kind, including cash, outside of a PAYE job, it needs to be declared and tax paid. The difference with cash is that it’s not traceable so realistically you won’t be getting caught. I advise you to start submitting tax returns and paying tax on earnings that have been paid into your account. There are also penalty charges for not registering as self employed within the required timeframe etc.

What do you mean you are not self employed? Of course you are! If you are being paid to work, I hope you are declaring it otherwise you are defrauding the tax office.

After 8pm I pay for the taxi

I pay before they leave.

We pay our babysitter (one of the nursery workers) £10 an hour cash. Plus usually a pizza and dessert in the fridge for her. Cash on the night. Return at the time we said we would

I remember babysitting for one family years ago and the mum would always say help yourself to food. Except all she had was ryvita and petit filout yoghurts. So I started bringing my own snacks. She’d say oh you never take any food! I was like you don’t have any!!

The best parents would leave out lots of nice snacks. Or at least have a cupboard with some in!

I always asked for cash. Making your phone a card reader is a great idea.

Have only had a babysitter a couple of times but hadn’t occurred to me to do anything except stop at the cash point at some point that day. And I always round up just in case. I babysat for years but in the cash era so never waited for anything. If this is common I’d look for sumup or similar to avoid. And just quote for the hours before / after public transport as different rates to include your taxi fare when needed.

A teen it would be cash in hand, a professional service within 5 working days like any other contractor

fanofleaves

for living in south London you’re very economical as a babysitter.

I’d be expecting to pay more than you’re charging.

I do charge differ prices for my families as they are different ages.

you might want to let your families know you are very well priced and those that pay late, increase the price come April when NMW rises

when you confirm the booking, give them your bank details and state in the message that you expect to be paid on the day

state the fee for the time booked, and the hourly amount for if they return late.
give them an estimate of the uber fee - and either let them pay on the estimated amount, or make a separate payment for the uber when you send the receipt. Or let them book and pay for the uber.

and it is a service that they have booked and they are paying for - I really don't see the problem with reminding them about the payment while you are waiting for the car to arrive.

I pay by Revolut and I usually send it while I'm in the taxi enroute home. Good reliable babysitters are hard to find around here so I appreciate my one

My take on the travel home thing is -

My personal preference is not to be on the hook for an unspecified amount of money. So I wouldn't want to agree just "covering a taxi home" - in London if they chose a black cab, that would cost a lot.

I also think that agreeing this with a babysitter means they are are then unlikely to bother even trying to make an alternative arrangement so it's likely to drive up the cost considerably.

What I want is someone who charges what they need to make it work for them so I can make an informed decision - eg if a babysitter wants to charge extra after 11 or midnight or whatever to cover a taxi, I would consider that if I liked the babysitter otherwise and overall it wasn't cost prohibitive

I don't feel responsible for the babysitters travel home - because I don't hire teenagers, I hire adult professional women and it would feel really patronising.

TBH (and I am in South London too) the market is competitive enough here that I probably wouldn't consider a babysitter who wanted me to provide food and transport because there are plenty of reliable good qualified folk who don't come with these asks.

I’m torn on the paid taxi/Uber

im Se as a maternity nurse - I don’t charge my clients for t travel. I put that down as an expense on my tax return

whether train fare (rare) or travel costs via mileage /petrol costs and any ulez (now have ulez car) tunnel charges etx

so I do find it strange that families pay for the babysitters travel home

I don't think it is.

I think tea and coffee is basic hospitality not an open invitation to raid the kitchen.

We don't eat frozen pizza or have biscuits/chocolate in as a general rule so I would have to buy it in especially and I would resent being left with something none of us eat cluttering up our freezer/cupboards.

We usually cook from scratch and meal plan so there isn't a lot of random food going in our house, just our preferences.

I think also I find the idea that a babysitter should be grateful for permission to root around our kitchen for random bits of cheese a bit weird? If I was a babysitter (and I did babysit in my teens), I would much much rather bring something I know I like to eat than take my chances with whatever food my client has.

I wonder if they hope you will say - oh just make it up until midnight- when they stagger in at 1. They should pay promptly though and i would be less available for people who don’t. Maybe you could add a late fee to your invoice so additional £5 if not paid within 48 hrs.

The food thing is odd. You’re a professional if you’re charging £100 + uber for an evenings work, I would get in biscuits for a neighbours teen, but at that sort of cost I would expect you as an adult to make your own food arrangements based on your schedule . We don’t have snacky food, we don’t eat much bread or biscuits generally. I would tell you to help yourself to tea and coffee.

I disagree.
i think it s great that tradepeople are organised and i can pay as soon as the job is finished then they send an invoice.

it s only awkward if you choose to find it awkward.

it s a very good system both for them and their client.

I'm not hostile at all. I'm just pointing out that babysitting is a job just like any other job. I can't see why we treat babysitters differently to any other service provider. I'd offer anyone that came to my house tea/coffee, that's just polite, but anything else is an added bonus if you stop and really think about it. Name another job where the customer would be expected to provide free food and transportation...

I tend to offer and ask if they will have eaten and if not can I pick them up anything from the shop but I wouldn’t just buy a pizza on the off chance they wanted it. I leave out snacks that are specifically for the babysitter and show them where the tea/coffee/coke is. This is the way it worked when I was a teenage babysitter!

@FanofLeaves reading through your posts again, I think you need to be more affirmative in your communication with the parents.
Our babysitters:

• state their payment methods
• state their prices (incl additional charges for late evening/nights, I think that might be better than charging for an Uber?)
• state their stating times (and end times if they have any but that's rarer)
• although I disagree with it, if you expect a meal because of work etc, then just say it!

Many times we have had to adapt our plans to our babysitters availability. And we know that if aren't flexible, they just won't work for us.

I would expect them to wait until I had bank transferred it across and proven it before they left. I would never let a babysitter leave without giving them their wage.