to offer a babysitter £5/hour?

[tiggersdontlikehoney]

What is the going rate for a teenage (age 16) babysitter these days?

They would be looking after one 4-year old for a few hours in the evening. So just playing, putting to bed, nothing very difficult, then they can relax and watch TV or whatever.

I haven't had any dealings with babysitters since I was a teenager myself so no idea what to offer. Would £5/hour be considered too little?

We are in a small town in the Midlands, so not looking for London prices or anything like that.

How much do you pay?

[honeylulu]

We're in the south east and pay 10 per hour (with no extras i.e food and transport costs). We found when we were paying less it was a struggle to find sitters we liked who would commit regularly.

[MollyHuaCha]

I think it’s fine.

But 18 years ago I offered a friend’s teenage daughter £4 an hour to babysit (one child who was asleep) and she declined on the grounds that it was ‘not worth her while’.

[Tilapia]

£5 sounds a bit low to me.

[pameladoove]

Minimum wage for under 18 is £4.05.

I used to feel guilty about paying 16 year old babysitters £5 or £6 til I read that!

[ujerneyson]

I think it's fine. I certainly wouldn't be paying anyone £15 an hour. I pay my adult sitters £8.50 and for that they get to watch X factor with an 11 year old and to tell her to go upstairs at 9pm, which she does. It's hardly taxing.

[Spakledsockmonkey]

I tend to round up and pay a bit extra but then any babysitter I have has to wrangle four DC. I always feel like I should be paying them dange money.

[AnnabelleLecter]

DD gets £5 an hour but child is always already in bed.
Should be more if babysitter is expected to play and get a child to bed.

[SugarMiceInTheRain]

I got £5 an evening as a teenager! (20 odd years ago) We are in the Midlands and usually give our babysitter £20 for the evening (no more than 4 hours and always take her home by midnight) She always seems delighted with it. Am amazed at the people saying they got £10p/h years ago.

[Aeroflotgirl]

I would do minimum wage for 16 year olds, seems only fair.

[SugarMiceInTheRain]

Btw, our kids are easy - the 3 y o just goes to bed when asked as long as she's had a story and the older ones very much take care of themselves - read in bed for as long as they like then turn off their own light so our babysitter doesn't have to do much at all and if she arrives after 7pm, one of us has already put the 3 yo to bed.

[JoJoSM2]

I'd ask what she charges but £5 seems ok if you're average earners yourselves. If you're well off then I'd up it a bit.

[Lollyb86]

I used to get £7 an hour about 15 years ago so it does seem a little cheap to me

[RomanMum]

What Friday said. My teenage babysitter charges £5 p/h but she is looking after one 8 yo and only early evenings (school meetings etc.)

[Mrscog]

I think £5 per hour for unqualified teenager is perfectly reasonable.

[coddiwomple]

I wouldn't pay less anyone based on their age, even less when my kids are involved.

£5 sounds just about ok when the kids are asleep, but it's very low if they are up. £7 or £8 sounds better, we pay £10 £12 but we're south east.

[Amummyatlast]

The 16 year old next door has only recently started babysitting for us and we pay £5 an hour. All he has to do is sit on the sofa, watch Tv and eat snacks.

[NeedsAsockamnesty]

So five quid seems a bit cheap. I know it is just above the minimum wage but the minimum wage is aimed at apprentices etc who are receiving training and working towards a qualification

I’m pretty sure there is a separate minimum wage for apprentices something ridiculously low like £2.50 an hour (that figure is a guess)

[NC04]

Can't remember what I used to get (except the time I was paid in change, got £2.34, was well cheesed off!) but the best time was when I was left a tray of goodies. It didn't go as far as sandwiches, but there was fruit, really nice flapjack things and other stuff, all laid out for me so it was obvious what I could have. There was a bottle of wine as well. 15 years later and I still remember. So I'd suggest doing something like that, as well as the £5 per hour.

[silkpyjamasallday]

I charged £5 an hour when I worked as a mothers help/babysitter as a teen (and I'm early twenties so not long ago) but they generally rounded it up at the end of the night. I never charged more for after midnight either. But I adored those children and actually really enjoyed doing dinner, homework, bath, story time and bed with them.

[DollyMcDolly]

I pay £10 per hour to our 16 year old babysitter

[Firenight]

I was getting £5 / hour to babysit in the mid 90s. So that does seem fairly cheap.

[Sunbeam18]

£6.50 per hour for my lovely teenage babysitter looking after my 4 year old

[DollyMcDolly]

Oh, I’m in the North East, England

[Princess28]

I work in a private school in the south east and checked with the 16 year olds what they get- they all answered £5 per hour so that's what we pay ours. She was pleased with that.

[Brittbugs80]

I certainly wouldn't be paying anyone £15 an hour. I pay my adult sitters £8.50 and for that they get to watch X factor with an 11 year old and to tell her to go upstairs at 9pm, which she does. It's hardly taxing



I have a waiting list so I'm obviously not overcharging.

I'm always surprised by how little people are prepared to pay for sitters. It's quite insulting actually that people offer a pittance for looking after the one thing that is irreplaceable in their lives and even haggle to get your cost down further.

You may view it as an "easy" job but it's an absolute different ball game than looking after your own child yourself. I certainly don't just lounge about and relax but then I follow specific routines to safeguard myself. People pay me for my experience and my reputation speaks for itself.