Babysitting - going rate in London?

HI ya everyone
I am a student nurse and qualified teaching assistant, and in the finacial crisis that we are all having to face, i do babysitting to finace university
I charge £7.50 an hour plus traveling expences (which is normally public transport).

This i know to be quite a competitive rate, as other babysitters charge from £7,50 an hour to £15 an hour......some agencies even charge £20 an hour.

I think its vital to have someone who knows first aid and is CRB checked for peace of mind, and someone you have met previosley. which is why i offer a meet and greet consoltation free of charge before hand.

i also understand though that with qualifications, crb checks ect come as price, being in increased rates......many people can no longer afford to pay.

so just understand that there is still a contoversal debate about the age ofthe person a child should be left with......should it really be someone under the age of 16?..............and that make sure you have know them previosley, and get a reference when ever possible. Remember tho that a babysitter like everyone has to get there first client somewhere, and they dont all come with referneces and they need to gain experience.

I hope you find the right babysitter for you and your family x :)

I am in Buckinghamshire (just out of London) when I babysit I charge £8 per hour b4 midnight & £9 per hour after midnight for up to 3 children. I then charge an extra £1 per hour for each extra child.

I also charge 25p per mile if I am babysitting out of my 5 mile radius.

Hi - What do people pay for someone to babysit - as in be in the house whilst my 9 year old is asleep, say from 9 pm till midnight? I have an au pair who has free time at weekends, but I'd like to ask him to babysit occasionally on a Friday or Saturday night. Not sure what extra to give him...help! It's basically extra pocket money as he lives with me any way so is fed and doesn't need transport home.... Thanks

Odd - this thread is ancient!
£6/hr plus taxi fare home (which will work out rather a lot from Russell Square!!)

How much should I pay a sitter from Brixton who is a Uni student (early 20's) to come babysit my 8-10 year old child for a few hours in these two places: Russell Square area, and Clapham. She is not a professional childminder, and is the daughter of my friend's friend. She does not drive and takes the tube everywhere. Would I pay her tube? or taxi if it is very late 9what is very late?) Do I need to feed her?

Thanks!

Wow, I just found out how much au pairs in my area think is reasonable for babysitting 8p/h. That would be over 11p/h with taxes if they wanted to earn that at an office job (and no help with travel costs with other jobs). That's more or less what I earn with two degrees and twenty years experience and a lot more than your average graduate earns.
I used to pay my lodger who was a professional with a degree and knew the children and their needs only £5ph. We both thought it was reasonable because as she was my age (40) and would be watching the telly as she always does while my two nine year olds were reading in bed (as they always do) it seemed like easy money.
I agree you may need a professional if you have more than one child under five but over five? Really? Centre parcs only charge £5ph for thier professional sitters.
I'm actually considering undercutting them and babysitting myself for the grocery money - that should see us through the recession.

Wow, im finding myself excessively busy with babysitting - so much so that a few weeks ago I got 6 babysitting requests for the same friday/saturday period. I rarely babysat in my last nanny job but since I started this one 5 months ago I'm inundated with requests. I wonder if its because my new job is in Nappy Valley, and there are simply more parents and families there than in my previous area, which creates a higher demand for babysitters? I'm feeling quite proud of myself as I have managed to put all my babysitting (and ad hoc friday job) money aside and it has paid for a lovely weeks holiday in Gran Canaria - as opposed to buying shoes and sweeties, which is where my babysitting money usually goes!

I think it's fact people not going out much- my nanny also complaining about not many bookings . And £8 ph is fine when you know it's someone who can deal with whatever the children can throw/throw up at you.

22 times

blondes faints and then gets up and applauds nn

I'm very impressed. I normally go 2/3 times a week work depending so 10/12 times an average month.

NEVER MORE

I don't actually mind not doing much babysitting - I'm going to the gym an average of 22 times a month, have never been so fit.

Have netmums ads and an ad in the church/village newsletter. Had a couple of click-throughs from netmums but no contact made. Ah well, I'll get fit instead.

Guess it's not worth your while coming to Kent is it nick?

I'm still in demand and get emails regually from my netmums ad

do you have an ad there?

Mine says that I'm free Thursday and Friday as well as available for weddings/evening bs and weekends and get a lot of enquiries

I had to turn 3 familys down last week who wanted a few dates but I'm fully booked to sept now tho did give one to a friend to do

sorry you have had to drop your hourly rate

would you bs through sitters?

Kapaxiana, you clearly have an axe which you have come here to grind. If you want to have a moan about how parents treat babysitters (which isn't really the topic of this thread) may I suggest you start a new thread?

The topic is still regularly discussed on Mumsnet and other sites. People often compare rates now to a large agency but don't always compare the total cost. Ultimately it is the total cost that is of interest - so including a taxi if paying for that.
Having reduced how much I charge by 20% I'm still not getting much demand. Maybe parents just afford to go out much at present, or maybe I'm still too costly at £8 an hour (no additions for travel costs).

Oh believe me, the way some people see babysitters will never change and some parents do think more about how much they are paying than who their are paying it to! This is the main point I wanted to make..no I had not checked the date lol, bliss of search engines, brought me to this thread, but it is just to show that the topic is still current :-)

where the hell did Kapaxiana drga this up from

and more to the point some were paying £5/6 6 yrs ago - wonder if they still pay that amount?

You realise this thread and all of the rates quoted on it are 6 years old?

I agree with yuletide and also understand where Tamula is coming from.

If you use, for example, a friends kid/neighbour, someone who doesn't do it as living obviously you are not going to pay them loads. I am sure most of you use people you know and trust however I would never never my children with someone that does not have enough experience and maturity to take on such an important task.
Some of you have said that babysitting is easy and one doesnt really do anything but I would not take chances.
What if something happens? If your child has a convulsion or god knows what.. Looking after someone's children is an enormous responsibility doesnt matter if they spend all night in bed or not. You just never know and my kids are too precious to me to risk that.
I feel better knowing that whoever is 'sitting' watching telly is also mature enough and prepared in case of an emergency.
I was a nanny for 5 years and have come across so many horrible stories. Sometimes even the person you trust can let you down. Just a quick story to share, I had a friend who I trusted and recommended to a family. The mum was late one day and the nanny had to go so she locked the door and left the boy sleeping in his cot... I would never ever imagine that she could have been so stupid to that point!
Anyway, most of the time, paying more means you are getting a more qualified and experienced person.
I am teacher and do occasional babysitting for the parents, I charge £10/hr but always get a little extra, they feel their children are safe with me and that HAS NO PRICE or has it?
Just a little food for thought....

I pay our Au pair £4 hour for babysitting any additional nights.

I always put the children to bed and ensure they are asleep and make it as easy as possible for her. She does babysit for another family periodically, they pay her a flat rate of £10 - £15 depending on how late they are, she is usually expected to put the eldest to bed.

A friends nanny use to babysit for us and we paid her £10 - £15 depending on how late we were plus taxi.

I think choosing the right person to look after your children is extremely important. if it is nanny, cleaner, neighbour - but does,nt mean you have to pay more for the more qualified.

I'm a childminder who also babysits at night for another family.I play board games/colouring in etc. with the children before bed then I get them ready,read stories to the youngest and settle them down.Then I tidy up any mess we've made. I am responsible for their safekeeping until their parents come home.I drive home,don't ask for a taxi.

So I don't just sit watching TV and listening for a baby....

Tamula - did not mean to imply that nannies were in some way inferior. But we are talking about babysitting here, and frankly if all you are doing is watching the box and listening in case one of the babes wake up then why should we pay more.

Nanny wages etc are VERY high, and they work hard for them, but this does not apply to babysitters.

We have an au-pair who is very much part of the family. She babysits two nights a week as part of her contract, but should we need her to do more, we pay her £6/hr.

I actually think the same duties for babysitting as for nanny aare fair game. But, babysitting tends to be just a few hours, which is far less taxing then a nanny who works 10 - 12 hours per day every day.

I think nannies are not so poorly paid. A lot of parents go to work and make only enough money to pay the nanny. If I havd a nanny who made £10/hour gross, and then I paid her taxes and mine on top of that, I would cost me more to go to work than I get paid. Somewhere people need to look at what families actually have left to live on after paying the childcare.

Also, if I had a choice of working as a maid or working a nanny, you would have to pay me a heck of a lot more to be your maid because I would HATE the work. Whereas I could enjoy being a nanny.

Tamula, I think nannying is a bit different to babysitting. To me babysitting is just that, SITTING!! ie would hope baby in bed and sitter not really needed. Therefore they really are doing nothing. I used to do it when I was a student so could study while there.

Now nannying is far more active.

People always complain about what they have to pay for everything. It doesn't mean they don't value it, its just that its difficult to pay 'staff' out of normal salaries.

Tamula - I agree with you. I pay my cleaner £8 an hour yet pay the babysitter £6.50. There is no correlation in terms of qualifications/trust/importance of role IMO. Last Saturday, dh and I both had to be out of the house during the day, so the nursery nurse looked after both dds for 4 hours (dd2 was asleep for about an hour of that). When I got home, dd1 proudly showed me a small cake that the two of them had iced for me. All that and peace of mind for £6.50 an hour - bargain.

I'm going to stray from the topic slightly sorry, but I sometimes find it worrying that people are so downcast about childcare.

I have always enjoyed working with children, I didnt choose this line of work because I couldnt do anything else, or beacuse its easy or anything else other than children is what I enjoy, I always have.

Why shouldn't nannies deserve to make a career out of their chosen profession? As you all know our children are our all, we could lose our homes and re-build, our jobs and get another one but our children are the very essence of why we live. So naturally childcare is important. Why then are nannies almost in the cleaners and housekeeper department?! Its shocking.

We are an invaluable necessity for many families, in many cases doing what parents cannot! but its perfectly fine and respectable for the Tesco supervisor to work less hours and earn more than us? We are not brain dead, we too can supervise Tesco's but we prefer children.

It reminds me of the age old adage of the husband coming home from work and expecting his dinner on the table and him being mortified should it not be, suggesting that all his wife does is sit at home and play with the kids.

Except now women do it to other women, I have worked for heads of various tv departments and doctors and lawyers, that could not for the life of them discipline or control their children until the nanny arrives!

Lets face it your not gonna hear of the nanny that worked their way up to his or her first million, but it would be nice to not be bunched up with the maid, butler or cleaner!!!!

Granted I can fully appreciate that some people simply cannot afford to pay certain amounts for a nanny, but there's no need to be grudgeful and remark 'why would you pay a nanny so much?' My argument is why wouldnt you?

Wow. You guys pay how much?!?! I pay our live-in nanny an additional £4 for babysitting. But, I always give her a minimum of about £10 even if we are only out for an hour and a half.

But, there will soon be a whole barrage of mumsnetters knocking on my door with "slave driver" signs any minute now.