£10 an hour for babysitting?

[EmpressOfTheSofa]

Is that really the going rate?

I’ve been lucky enough to never really need an evening babysitter but we have a thing coming up that my usual family or older dc can’t help with. I’ve asked around and it looks like a tenner an hour is standard? That would be sixty quid for sitting watching telly all night. I have one 10 year old who will put himself to bed. This is for a local teenager, I’ve had three offers from different kids all at £10 per hour.

If this really is the going rate I’m going to start offering my services! I used to charge half that per child for actual childminding fgs. Am I just out of touch?

It's £10 per hour round here and they are in high demand
My friend does it for extra money she does one night a week gets £60-£70 and it pays for her food shop (or most of it) her partner is at home with her kids and some weeks she does 2 nights depending on what she has on. Win win really
I've considered it myself to be honest and if it goes after midnight she charges £15 per hour no part-hours, only full hours charged
As long as it was local I'd be up for that but I certainly wouldn't do it for any less

I charge £10 for weeknights, £12 for weekends and an extra £1 per hour for a 3rd child (uni student with a lot of experience) My sister is 16 and charges £8 or £9 on weekends. That’s definitely the lower end of the spectrum. And definitely would be expecting a cab back if after 10pm included and food if I was starting before 7pm.

I do not employ under 18s, so was not aware of that awful rate. Sorry!!

I pay £10ph to a girl who works at DD's nursery. I wouldn't pay a random teen that much

I would do it for £20...and a pizza. But if the going rate is £60, I'll do it for that too. That's market forces, my friend. As for my numeracy skills, I wouldn't babysit more than three kids. I think I can make it to three. 😅

I pay the same for teen babysitter or teen dog sitter. Dog sitting is way harder though and I would only trust a certain few to look after my dogs compared to my kids. I wish I'd had 2 more kids rather than 2 dogs! We pay so much for dog sitters, I reckon more in 2 years than in the whole time we needed babysitters.

The thread is about teen babysitters, not about qualified childcare staff etc. Obviously you would expect to pay more for them.

Why are people paying such a lot of money when minimum wage for that age group is half of that amount?

The OP wants to pay €3 per hour.

Its like saying air traffic controllers are paid a mint to look at screens and look out the air control tower window.

If I was the parent of the teenager I would tell them to say no.

Maybe they actually value the person looking after their children?

It's not a race to the bottom 🤷🏻‍♀️

Going rate around here - inner city in the NW - is £10 - £12 an hour for 1-2 children
More for more kids. The £12 an hour babysitters are the more experienced ones who have relevant training/qualifications.

I was a really good baby sitter!! I used to get £10 for an evening which was 4 pints so by my reckoning it's a between £20-25 an evening now if we include inflation 😳

🤣 not 😳. Sorry rubbish emoji typing!

DD (17) gets £10 p/h in the south west. To be fair the two kids are relatively demanding so she plays games, reads stories, attempts to get them to bed. The parents seem very happy and she is very responsible (and probably more fun than an older sitter).

I always paid £10 - including a good few years ago. But our babysitters were adults - and I never had a problem getting one.

It’s also worth noting that DD (17) earns roughly £10 p/h in her supermarket job so people quoting the usual or minimum wage for young people aren’t always seeing the full picture.

Local 16 year old wanted £10/hr when I asked around. I was tempted to laugh at her and send snarky response but resisted as she is still a child. And what's the minimum wage for 16 year olds?? ? and why should you get more than a lot of adults at work doing actual jobs just to sit around my house on your phone? No I don't think so.

And as for some fools on bubble quoting me £20/hr - I always reply to them and tell them they're joking right?? I need a few hours so I can work and how do they think I or other parents can justify paying them more per hour than we actually earn??
Piss takers

And tax free for a babysitter!

What is the minimum wage in UK 2022?
For the vast majority of workers in the UK, the minimum wage in 2022 saw increases across the board across each relevant age range. That included wages for 16-17-year-olds (£4.81 with a 4.1% increase), 18-20-year-olds (£6.83 with a 4.1% increase) and 21-22-year-olds (£9.18 with a 9.8% increase).

So no, I wouldn't pay a teenager £10 an hour to sit on my sofa and watch TV.
Let's remember she has 1 x 10 yr old who puts themself to bed

I have a (now 21 yr old) who does all sorts of jobs, incl babysitting and she wouldn't dream of charging £10 an hr to sit there twiddling her thumbs. She's only recently started being paid that for busy bar work and restaurant work, when she is non-stop all night.
No, it isn't a race to the bottom as has been said, but it is understanding that most parents of young dc I know just couldn't go out for an evening if they had to ad £60 on top of their tickets / meal / whatever they re doing. We certainly couldn't had afforded that when ours were little. So we wouldn't have been able to go out, which would have resulted in our sitters being at home on their own sofa earning nothing.

I totally missed where OP said they are going out for 6 hrs, I would pay more than £20 for 6 hrs, £30 minimum but I would probably pay a teen 40 for that.

@UsingChangeofName do you go out for six hours though? We usually go out for 2-3 which is plenty for dinner or to see a show and then pay £30 for a babysitter.

For all those saying all babysitters do is sit and watch TV whilst your child(ren) sleep - why do you have a babysitter?

The answer is why you pay them. I don't think £10 is unreasonable for a responsible 16+. I wouldn't use anyone younger than that because I don't think they would be able to deal with random accidents/illness/emergencies.