AIBU to charge loads for after-school childcare and evening care?

Rather than charging per hour, say you charge a certain amount per shift. Or say £20/h minimum booking 4h.

We are currently looking for someone to do school/nursery pick up and childcare for 3h a day, for 3 kids.

No cooking or dinner involved (apart for the baby but food will be prepped by us). No homework either.

Most likely it will be taking them to the park/playground or playing at home, with taking the older ones to activities 1-2 times a week.

The going rate for a nanny in our area is about 21/h, so it makes sense for us as it's the same cost as the childminder.

[If you're doing this weekly for the same family then you're nanny, not a babysitter. The rates are very different]

I was a childminder I preferred the before and after school slots as I could earn £30 per hour working 4 hours which was £120 per day (although I did cover expenses within this) Day time child care was £30 per day for upto 8 hours a max earning of £90 per day for 8 hours work (and higher expenses)

I have a friend who does this, she charges £35 per child, and generally has 2 families of 2 kids every day, so £140 in total. It means she can't nanny during the day as she'd have too many kids after 3pm so the rate has to be relatively high to make up for lost earnings elsewhere. It's also a captive audience, after school club finishes at 5:30 and there's literally nothing/nobody else offering childcare until 7pm in this area. I reckon she could charge more tbh, I used to have my kids in with her on the days I commuted to London and wouldn't have been able to cope without that service so it was really valuable and I was happy to pay for it.

What you can charge depends entirely on your area.

There’s a nanny local to us (there is a dire shortage of childcare) who charges £250 a week for school pick-up to 6pm. She doesn’t do 2/3 day weeks - if you want her you employer her for all 5 days.

She also does 7.30am to school drop off for £150 a week. Again you have to book the full week.

For a while she had two siblings who hired her to collect both their kids, like a nanny share, and she charged them both full whack!

Where BIL lives you can get your children into nursery with a months notice so childminders cannot charge a premium price

May be area dependent. I've had three separate nannies doing 3-6:30pm over the last four years. This is in south east and east Anglia. Always had at least 2-3 to interview at a time too. I've paid between £15 – £19 gross per hour.

To be honest I’d be really shocked if someone quoted me £13-15 per hour for after school care, that seems cheap to me. I agree go in higher and see what they say. I’d probably expect £20-30 per hour to be quoted

I would pay more than that for a cleaner, so I definitely would for childcare 🤷

I have never yet found a nanny willing to only do the 3-6 slot. Every time, they want extra hours and its worked out more expensive paying the gross nanny pay, than using the childminder.

Childminders & ASC in my area charge at least £20 - £25 per child for the 3.30 -5.30 slot. Fixed rate, you cant take just one hour.

Employers dont realise this is why its so expensive for people to work full time hours, its £250 a week for 2 children just for after school. Another £100 on top for breakfast club. Add in commute costs & its a whole wage because you have to pay it out of post tax pay.

I'm someone that employs an afterschool nanny for childcare. I've had three nannies and have lived in three different areas. £18-20p/h is near-enough top end for this – unless you live in London and/or have a very experienced, specialised nanny.

Some nannies, with your dilemma (in that it has to be 'worth it' to them), have tried £25p/h or one even tried £18p/h for one child and £10p/h for the second (which is not, conventionally, how nannying works at all). I inwardly laughed at these proposals, but politely declined – of course anyone must charge what is worth it to them, but equally I can decline it.

At those suggested fees, OP, the parents could simply go and find an afterschool nanny – and likely get more hours for it too.

Saying that, ad hoc childcare can often be priced higher, so how ad hoc is it? Or is it actually a regular gig?

I’d say that you have a half day / day rate minimum which is xxx and is up to xxx hours no matter how much you use.

I pay £20/hour for ad-hoc babysitting e.g. 6pm to 7pm if I'm going to be working late.

Of course, you can charge what you like.

It is a case of you not really wanting to do it so they have to pay enough that you now do want to do it.

It is no different from companies / tradesmen / others who give "I don't want the job quotes".

Price it at a level that you can't turn down, they can either say no or they can pay it and make it worth it.

Check at these hours you don’t have to officially register with a child minder with ofsted to charge them

Our childminder charged £20 for before and after school care - £5 an hour, so £5 from 7.45am-8.45am and £15 from 3pm-6pm.

Would you be looking after the children in your home or theirs? If YOUR home, bear in mind also that you need to check the 2 hour rule. If the children are

• under 8 years old
• being look after for more than two hours a day
• being looked after in your home

• you are being paid for the care

Cleaners get £20 and hour, as should a child carer/housekeeper.

I’m £24 per after school session at a local nursery. They have a large outdoor area and do lots of activities. £30 seems a lot but if there is demand why not?

@Offherrockingchair she's not working for the full 14.5 hours? Probably sleeping around 8hrs, which she would be doing at home, £180 for 6 hours work - if you could call it that, sounds quite pleasant - seems worth it to me 🤷🏼‍♀️

I've always had nannies charge their usual rate per hour, but say that they can't do after school only and need at least 18 or 20 hours per week - so I paid for that and only used afte school 2-3x per week. Then if you're sick or need a bit of extra housework you have some capacity. I think that feels nicer than a nanny hiking up the cost per hour like a dynamic Uber just because they can.

So delightful it’s below NMW. That’s terrible!

Agree with pp to go high and have a minimum number of hours. This is the kind of care that is really difficult to find when a school day finishes at 3pm and a work day finishes at 5pm + commute and I think people would be willing to pay well for it, as having children settled at home is way nicer for them than still being at school at 6pm, however good the after school club is (and IME they’re basically the Wild West!)

I charge a flat rate for after school care from 3-5.30pm of £17 per child as a childminder. That's in Scottish city so will be much higher in South & without dinner or any of the extras. Evening babysitters around us charge £15ph but that's usually starting around 7/8ish with expectation that children will already be fed & pretty much ready for bed.
£20ph sounds a bargain for what you'd be offering. You set the price to value your service & the fact you'd be giving up your time in the evenings when it doesn't particularly sound like you're that keen on do so.

Where I live, usually the nanny rate is much higher for part time. Our nanny has a 3 hour minimum because it’s just not worth it for her otherwise. But you charge what makes it worth it to you and I would definitely have a minimum number of hours and be clear how partial hours work (our nanny will charge for 30 min increments). We do live in a childcare desert though so a low nanny rate is already 30/hour!