To ask how much you’d expect a babysitter to cost on NYE

[ThatMauveRaven]

20yo DD has been asked (last minute) to babysit her manager’s two young children tomorrow night. They’ve offered her £60 in cash to be there from 8pm-1am. The two kids will most likely be asleep in bed, so she won’t exactly have to do much work but I still think that this is quite stingey considering it’s New Years Eve!

Thoughts?

YABU - £60 is enough
YANBU - I’d expect to pay more

I have too, but because my contract said so.

That's completely irrelevant here, there's no contract or obligation. Babysitters can charge a premium just like taxi drivers do. If they ask too much the clients are free to say no thanks and find someone else.

I also wonder if there is a geography thing here, I’m in London/SE and £15 per hour is pretty standard for a babysitter - god knows what the new years surcharge would be.

Your DD is 20, not 15. Her manager expects an adult woman to give up the most important social date of the year for a paltry 60 quid! I’d tell them that she’s busy. Manager is a CF.

It looks like I'm in the wrong job.

Can I babysit or dogsit for some wealthy mumsnetter for £20 an hour?

Glad to see they've topped the offer to £85

18 months old can be tricky getting to bed, as can 4 year olds, popping out of bed and trying their luck.

As for sitting on the sofa, no its not all sitting chilling, its checking on them every 45 minutes, keeping the monitor on and putting them to bed, bathing and reading stories, comforting if they wake from bad dreams - which does happen. along with making sure you're awake when mum and dad return as you need to be awake and altert

yeah wtf

I was getting £20 for the night back in 1985

I would never pay this rate for a normal night but New Year Eve yes, I would.
I don't think a lot of parents pay these rates MN often talk about. It's not around here.

I used to pay my sitter 30 and a takeaway of her choice for a normal night. When I rolled in at
7am the next morning cos I’d fallen asleep at My mates or similar I’d double it. I never go out NYE (haven’t actually
been out since September as I don’t enjoy it) but if I was and lucky enough to get a sitter it would be a flat 100 and pizza and taxi home then maybe an extra 20-30 if I pulled an all-nighter!! I even have a 15 year old at home but she won’t babysit lol!!!!

I think there's two ways of looking at it. I've already said as a trained nursery nurse and then teacher, my minimum is £15 all year round. I wouldn't get much work over that rate, it's just too expensive. I'd certainly want that as a bare minimum on NYE. As I said previously I think to chuck in a takeaway would be a nice sentiment on NYE.

If she's not qualified and not doing anything else, £85 is a fair amount. To most families that's a week shopping or petrol if you look at it in real terms. If she has no commitments then £85 is a nice little treat for herself for the new year, if the alternative was to be at home with no plans.

On the other side of the coin, he'll be hard pushed to find someone to do this on such short notice and at that price. She has the upper hand in the haggling really as it could be left that he has no childcare at all, and he clearly has plans. Those children are young, there's no doubt it might not be the "easy night scrolling on her phone" that some people think it may be. Tbh I think it's quite a lot of responsibility if you're not qualified/not used to kids and why shouldn't she be paid a good amount.

Hope your DD gets the amount she wants 👍 tbh to come back with £85 if she wants £100,seems a bit tight to me. It's only another £15 for him to have cemented childcare and go out and have a good night.

I take the point you're making - I'm from a working class background myself - but I agree that the OP's daughter should be offered a higher wage when she's specifically being asked to work unsocial hours over a holiday period as a special favour.

Minimum wage is £12 ph so £60 for 5 hours on New Year’s Eve and getting in after 1am is taking the piss massively. I could never afford what I would expect to pay a babysitter on NYE which is why I stay in.

Up to your daughter if she chooses to do it but I think her manager is being a dick putting her in a position where she either rightly says no or insists on more money to be paid upfront or does babysit for far too low a rate and is therefore being taken advantage of.

Yeah I reckon he knows he’s being a CF. I would have said £100 too if I’d not seen the replies, and still think that’s about right having seen them and rtft.

He’s taking the mickey.

Plus I don’t think you can assume the kids will be asleep- it’s always those who want to pay the bare minimum whose kids aren’t in bed, don’t co-operate re going to bed, and are generally up and down like yo-yos. Bet they don’t leave her food and soft drinks either!

If I were your DD I would come back and say, I wasn’t negotiating, that’s the minimum I would want to change my plans for NYE.

There's nothing stopping you, but not many can cover rent and bills reliably on ad hoc baby sitting alone.

That’s a fair point!

I wouldn't reply tonight and wait for him to text in the morning, then say 'no'. He's a CF of the highest order. Since he's so keen to negotiate he must have a backup option!

£10ph is normal babysitting rate for any normal day
I would expect to pay double that to persuade a 20yo to give up a NYE. So £100 minimum if they are definitely back by 1am.

Mmmmm now I see how young they are I wonder if it's worth the hassle to be honest. I want to arrange a plan with them re what will happen say for example the baby wakes up and is hysterical and won't settle. Are they a phonecall away and will return? How is payment negotiated in that instance etc.

That is ridiculous. We paid £15/hour on a normal night. Besides which it is super inappropriate for a manager to ask this of an employee unless there's a personal relationship of some sort? Or she works in childcare? I think she's being put in an awful position here.

At least £100 and extra for after midnight.

I would definitely say no after him being so cheeky! Yes please or no thanks were his only options.

Definitely CF.
"Sorry, I have plans" is all she need to say now. She has said what she'd accept (perfectly reasonable amount) and they aren't willing to pay that so no deal. I don't think she should agree now even if they do up their offer - they will probably do some kind of bait-and-switch trick as they have demonstrated they don't value the sacrifice they are asking of her.

What a joke. I’d call his bluff and say sorry no.

I hope she feels comfortable telling this CF no. Trying to low-ball and haggle with a subordinate is asshole behavior from the manager.

Your DD's time has value, including her down time. Parents of young children in particular (including those on this thread) should know that.

Neither! It’s just a small (and rather unprofessional…) family business. He has since put the offer of £60 for the night into the staff group chat - they’ve all left him on read 🤣