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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To pay uni student £9an hour childcare

59 replies

Lassy1945 · 07/04/2021 15:26

Is this the going rate? To look after later primary twins. Very easy. No cooking or childcare.
Just to take them out for football / cinema etc.

Summer hols... 5 hours a day twice a week.

Reasonable?

Thanks

OP posts:
Italianmoma1983 · 07/04/2021 15:50

My teen is paid £10 an hour for babysitting.

rainbowthoughts · 07/04/2021 15:51

Well of course but unless the OP is press ganging anyone potential employees will make their own decisions.

Well quite. Hence me saying it's a consideration.

sunflowersandbuttercups · 07/04/2021 15:53

I would say £10 an hour is fair as there are two of them.

Plus entrance costs etc. on top - it sounds like a great little summer job.

CupcakesK · 07/04/2021 15:54

It sounds like the OP has someone in mind already, so not a wage to advertise on the open market and not necessarily someone with any childcare qualifications/experience. £9-10 an hour for a student who will likely be living at home is absolutely reasonable and in line with what they would get for most other types of employment open to them over the summer

Seeline · 07/04/2021 15:54

So are you expecting them to occupy your DTs out of the house for 5 hr/day twice a week, or can they look after them at home too?

You say no cooking, but they'll need feeding within that 5 - how will that work?

I think £10 for two kids sounds low.

thebillyotea · 07/04/2021 16:03

No childcare means no being responsible of the children and not being left in charge of them at all. I'd love to know how that would work.

RevolvingPivot · 07/04/2021 16:04

Will they make their own dinner / tea? My 10 year old wouldn't.

Humberbear · 07/04/2021 16:05

I work in an after school club that pay minimum wage as do most of them in the area. That is for qualified staff as well and we look after 8 kids each.

HalfTermHalfTerm · 07/04/2021 16:05

It's not difficult to understand. Not all jobs pay minimum wage. Some jobs have other benefits and discounts. Some students will choose that over OP offer. Others might not. It's a simple consideration which is individual to circumstances.

I was trying to politely say that if I understood you correctly then I didn’t think your point was relevant, but given your blunt response I’m not sure why I bothered!

No, not all jobs pay minimum wage. So yes, the uni student might choose a different job that will also pay more than minimum wage.

I would rather get paid £9 an hour to take two children to the park and the cinema than get paid slightly more to waitress and have the unsociable hours etc that come with that but other people might feel differently.

littlepattilou · 07/04/2021 16:05

I think £10 an hour, (with all expenses paid as well,) is good. What other job would a uni student get that pays more than that per hour? (That's actually legal I mean)

People suggesting £10 per child are being ridiculous. So £100 for taking 2 kids to the cinema and entertaining them for 2 or 3 hours after that.

Blimey, everyone would do that if they got that much PURELY for looking after 2 kids for 5 hours (and had a free cinema trip thrown in that the employee paid for!)

@Lassy1945 YANBU at all £10 an hour + any expenses incurred is absolutely fine. Quite decent in fact! It is certainly not 'taking advantage of young people!' Hmm They only get around £6.50 an hour between the age of 18 and 20. So £10 an hour for what you are asking is good!

MrsWombat · 07/04/2021 16:10

The London Living Wage is 10.85 and UK living wage is £9.50 so I think this is very fair.

rainbowthoughts · 07/04/2021 16:11

I was trying to politely say that if I understood you correctly then I didn’t think your point was relevant, but given your blunt response I’m not sure why I bothered!

You should have just said what you meant. It's easier for me to understand that way. I can't work out from you saying you don't understand that you actually mean you think my point is not relevant.

As an aside, my point is entirely relevant as it is a major factor when a student is considering a job, so it's not unrealistic to mention it to OP.

Brainwave89 · 07/04/2021 16:11

Sounds better than bar work to me? If the kids are well behaved and there is not travelling to do, it sounds like a pretty good gig at 10.00 an hour.

littlepattilou · 07/04/2021 16:12

@MrsWombat

The London Living Wage is 10.85 and UK living wage is £9.50 so I think this is very fair.
It's actually lower than that for 18-20 year olds (which a uni student would very likely be...) It's £6.56 an hour. So £10 an hour is good! Smile
VodkaSlimline · 07/04/2021 16:14

Assuming it's cash in hand and you cover all expenses, £10 sounds fair.

thebillyotea · 07/04/2021 16:16

It's always a mystery to me why people are happy to spend a fortune on hairdressers, cleaners, sometimes dog sitter even and all kind of luxuries (I used all of those myself!) but try to spend as little as they possibly can when it's about their children.

huggzy · 07/04/2021 16:17

I'm a fully qualified nursery nurse with over 15 years experience and earn less than £9 per hour. So yes I'd say that's fine.

Hallyup5 · 07/04/2021 16:18

I'll bet a lot of carers wish they were paid £10 an hour. Seemed very reasonable to me.

IJustWantSomeBees · 07/04/2021 16:20

It's actually lower than that for 18-20 year olds (which a uni student would very likely be...) It's £6.56 an hour. So £10 an hour is good!

It's terrible that it's legal for people to pay such low wages to adults though. A uni student will be accumulating vast amounts of debt. OP I think you (and anyone else who hires an adult for anything) should pay Living Wage. We know that minimum wage is not sustainable for anyone.

HalfTermHalfTerm · 07/04/2021 16:21

@rainbowthoughts Apologies, I wasn’t trying to be vague. I did think that perhaps I had misunderstood what you meant.

I agree that salary is relevant, but I think this is a perfectly acceptable salary for doing what sounds like a fairly ‘nice’ job so I personally don’t think there’s any need to increase it (or increase it by much) just because other places may pay more or the same amount. I would have taken the job the OP is offering over almost any other summer job. Hopefully the person it’s being offered to feels the same way!

Sleepdeprivedmama1 · 07/04/2021 16:21

Do you know said student? Or are you looking for cheap childcare for the holiday period?

My main concern is no DBS checks, safeguarding training etc.

thebillyotea · 07/04/2021 16:22

£6.56 an hour is not worth doing for anyone. Teens earn more than that babysitting here (as they should!), cleaners earn double! Not a dig against cleaner, I was one, it's just one of these jobs when hard work is enough. You don't need qualification.

Onjnmoeiejducwoapy · 07/04/2021 16:51

As a student (recently!) I would have been very happy with that, especially if I could get expenses to take them places.

marialuisa · 07/04/2021 16:52

DD is a student and does afterschool and holiday care for a family. She gets £10ph cash in hand and a budget for activities (when they were possible). She looks after 1x5 year old and occasionally makes him dinner. She’s in Edinburgh. She has been DBS checked and has a first aid certificate. She can drive but walks/uses public transport with the child.

AvocadosBeforeMortgages · 07/04/2021 17:08

Minimum wage for anyone age 23+ is £8.91 per hour, so this is hardly a particularly generous wage.

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