How much should you charge for overnight care?

Goose I wasn't intending to insult anyone. DH has worked nights and other shift arrangements over the last 10 years and was able to catch up on his sleep to a certain extend between shifts. I am fully aware of the physical and mental stresses he suffered - his health has suffered severely.

A friend of mine stopped offering overnight care because it was difficult to cope during day following the overnight care as they were up more than they had expected and were consequently tired throughout the day. And they were charging about £20 I think. So decided it wasn't worth it in the end for them.

And childminding over night is not at all like a good nights sleep in your own bed. Excitement or the strangeness of being in another house or missing mummy/daddy means they are likely to sleep less well than at home unless it becomes a regular routing to sleep at the childminders. And even if they are asleep the whole time, having to stay alert would disrupt my own sleep anyway.

I agree with gooseeggs points. I think that an overnight for a nanny or childminder depends very much on what the child in question is like.

Is it an overnight on top of a full day with another full day afterwards?

Is it an overnight in your own home, ie child comes to you?

Is it a child over the age of 4/5 and night potty trained?

Does the child wake during the night?

Are you being expected to sit up all night? ie not go to bed at all?

An overnight 6pm-8am with child sleeping in spare bed, you in your own bed, no wake up calls and child going home at 8am the next day isn't that much hard work surely?

An overnight with a baby who still wakes 2 or 3 times a night needing milk/nnappy changes is different.

Yes nightshift can be paid more than daywork but not always, often people make a choice about 'when' they want to work. If the idea of maybe having to get up once to a mindee, or having to share your space from 5pm-8pm with another child isn't for you then maybe you don't offer to do night care.

Our nanny has said she would see an overnight as like another days work each has ups and downs. Daytime is harder cos there's alot more to do with an active toddler - ie games, meals, running in the park, cleaning etc. Nighttime could be harder because its a night away from her own bed and she may have to get up to give him a drink, on the other hand from 7pm - 11pm is her own time to sit and watch TV, read a book, go online etc and still get paid for it.

Mind you I wouldn't expect her to do 8am-5pm, then 5pm-8am, then 8am-5pm all in a row!
Last time she did overnight for us she came in a bit late and worked 10am-5pm, then had time off to go and get pizza or cook something in our kitchen while I bathed him, then she took over at 6.30pm and put him to bed as we went out. She finished at 8am the enxt day and went home.

Yes, childminders do have longer days than the actual hours parents pay them for, but what they don?t have is an unpaid commute to work and back and associated non tax-deductable petrol costs.

It?s insulting to real night shift workers to similarly compare overnight childminding ie a good normal night?s sleep in my own bed, albeit being ready to get up to attend to a child if necessary, to the physical and mental stresses of having to be up and dressed and working all night.

Don't forget shift workers/night workers usually get time off during the day to sleep.

A childminder's day is already so much longer than the hours parents are paying for - with cleaning, paperwork, coursework, planning & preparation, cooking etc.

Overnight care often means working through the night straight after a full days work and/or immediately before a full days work.

Who else would work a 24 hour shift for their normal hourly rate? And with no lunch or tea break either.

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my friends a cm and she charges £2 an hour for days which are 7:30am til 8pm. after this she charges for overnights £30 altogether. she doesn't charge extra if the child is up.

this is per child unless their are 3+ children (of same family). for 3+ children she charges £80 for overnights.

Night work can certainly be paid more than day work, though not always of course. To help with setting prices, it can help to try to establish how much the parents are being paid, if they are needing childcare during the time they are working. If you charge more than they get paid, then it's not worth them working!

Don't undersell yourself (and the service you provide). Few people provide overnight care, so you are in a strong position to command whatever price you want. While you may want to be fair to the family, you also want to be fair to your own family.

2am and I've only just got home... time for bed me thinks!

Added ours up and we'd pay £56 'cash in hand' for 10 hrs.
£66 -£80 if he woke up in the wee hours

Ok my charges would be Double time 6pm-bedtime(say 8pm)and then again double time between 6am and 8am. Then the 10 hours between 8pm and 6am i would charge £50. So in total it would be £68. But this also depends on your daily rate and area in the country you are and ofcourse what the parents can actually afford to pay.

If our nanny does overnight I pay her the equivilant of a days rate or time off in lieu both + an extra £10. Plus a taxi home when she finishes (live out) and if he has woken between 12 and 6am another extra £10.

We have a guest bed so she sleeps there.

Generally overnight would be 8pm - 7am for us.

what would that be then? about £40 per night?

CCP tutor suggested we copy the rate offered by nearest travelodge or similar.

don't charge less than your daytime rate; even if the child sleeps through the night you are "on guard" all evening and all night - no tipple b4 bedtime or anything you might usually do in your personal time - plus you've got all their bedding & towels/flannels to wash, hot water/toiletries for bath & any meals you may include. And as Nick pointed out there are lots of events that could potentiallly keep you up all night.

I find it strange that you would even consider doing over night care for less than your day rate even your rate shosha seems very cheap.
Your day rate is set by the supply and demand of your area but i feel a night rate should reflect that fact that basically you are doing 24+ hour care.Though the children may be asleep you are still fully responsible for them and therefore working even when you/they are asleep.
Also as a parent I was/am always very more wary of the nights because 9 times out of 10 that is when they come down with an illness/nightmares/night terrors/phobias(the dark) etc etc.
And all of this on top of the fact that your family have to share their time and space with an extra person in the house.

Well I have one regular 11 yr old and he's no trouble and doesn't use any of the extra resources eg paper/crafty stuff/petrol that daytime mindees do. He does his homework and takes himself off to bed when I ask him I'm very happy with £25.
This is Devon though.

oooh NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!, its my evening, its outside 'normal hours'..i have done one so far, one next week and maybe one a week for next 9 weeks?
overnight is not something many people want to do so its up to you what you do and what you charge!

wow!..i thought my overnight rate was low!!!, ill get over £70 for my overnight next weeki was told to charge £7+ when i was training!!!

I charge daytime hourly rates until 8pm, then £25 total for the night (to inclde breakfast) until 8am, when my daytime charges begin again.

agalch, i also charge £3 during day and then for overnight i charge £5.50.
I charge overnight rates from 6.30pm until 8.30am next day

Have you made any decision on how much to charge? Hospital workers need the childcare, but they won't get paid mega amounts. However that does not mean you should provide the childcare at low cost, instead try to find a price that everyone is happy with. Have the parents suggested an amount for how much they would pay? Does the hospital childcare co-ordinator have any suggestions on what price would be suitable?

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Is there demand for overnight care? Who are your target market for overnight care (what are the parents doing for example, to need you to care for their children overnight)? How valuable a service is this to the parents?

Pricing for any service is always hard to get right and you will need to experiment a bit. Try not to undervalue the service you provide. Caring for children overnight can be difficult at times, can result in you getting No Sleep yourself. Some children sleep well, others do not. Children can be sick during the night, they may wet the bed, have a nose bleed etc. These would all COST you - additional washing, new bedding (if it's that bad it won't come out), time spent comforting the distressed child.

The last time I cared for a child overnight (in the child's own home, as I am a nanny), was in January. Worked out at 8.80 per hour. The parents were not working however, it was their one-night honeymoon.

Think about your target market and how much they would pay for overnight care. Check out the competition to see what they charge - though avoid price-matching, instead offer a better service.

Hope that's some help. Good luck.