If you’d booked a babysitter

[FanofLeaves]

And they’d completed a 7 hour shift for you, entertaining and then putting your small children to bed, and then staying up until you get in at 1am, how soon would you be paying them?

I’m a nanny but I do a bit of babysitting work on the odd weekend for extra cash. Desperately in need of the extra cash at the moment and my bank account is looking pretty bare so am currently getting pissed off looking at my bank account and willing a payment of over £100 (including the uber home I had to get due to public transport having stopped, I don’t drive) to appear.

I sent a text with the amount owed and my bank details, attaching the taxi receipt, at 9:30am yesterday morning.

I think I’m going to either have to ask for some payment to be made in advance, or charging a late fee but this sounds a bit arsey snd I’m worried it might put people off. Then again, if you are say in a restaurant or have had your haircut you pay promptly after receiving that service, you don’t pay it at some point over the next few days!

i’ll send a nudge later this morning but it annoys me that I have to do it.

So I guess my question is, say you’d booked a babysitter, how promptly do you pay them? And would you expect to be charged a late fee for taking 24+ to pay? I get it, we have busy lives, I’m a mum myself, but it just feels like a piss take. I think I’ve had one babysitting gig this year where the money has hit my account before I’m even home, all the others take up to 3 days to make payment.

You're exactly right.

That's why Doctors, Nurses Cleaners and Receptionists all get paid the same money with the same terms....because they all work at the hospital. We all know that T&C's are based on WHERE you work and not the job you do!

Thank goodness you're here to explain this to everyone. I can't believe how thick some people on this thread are! Thinking a decorator and a babysitter do different jobs! I mean come on people they both work in HOUSES!

Try calling HMRC if you need specific advice.

If it was a one-off and he wasn't making profit to give your company advice, that's fine. If he's doing it every week and making money, he'll have an issue. I don't know your specific circumstances to help you, but I do know OP's because she explained she is doing a significant amount of babysitting and earning money doing so.

When I babysitted years ago I was given cash on the night.

Nowadays cash is less common but I would still expect payment the same day, or next as a push. I pay my cleaner the same day.

Thanks for the distinction. In his case it's very much an ad-hoc occasional thing (like when we can't be bothered to change our own blown lightbulbs!).

I can see how babysitting could move from ancillary to regular income and potentially changes the status.

I don’t babysit super regularly to be honest. Probably once every 3-4 weeks! I used to do it a lot more before my son was born , but if I am hitting the tax threshold it would only scrape it. But I will take on board the comments re HMRC. I’m hardly plundering the public purse though I can assure you 🤣

Sadly it's doubtful that you're making your fortune and raking it in at once per month. If you do a lot more and have any doubt, HMRC can usually answer by phone and you can make a note of time/agent so if you're ever asked you can point to that.

What did HMRC say?