where to look for very short hours childcare

[GirlWithTheMouseyHair]

I work in theatre and DH has a proper job. He normally gets home around 6:30-7pm. I often have to go into central London in the evenings to work on shows or have meetings etc, which means I have to leave home 5-6pm, so we have this annoying rough 1hour when we need someone at home with DS (21months) for bath and bed at 7pm, he has a very set bedtime routine so we've always relied on the kindness of friends as it's pretty easy and he's a sociable happy boy.

I feel like I'm running out of favours though and getting to the point of nearly two years asking the same people on rotation and just feeling a bit bad about it so want to find someone local who can just pop round as and when I need the help (I always have notice so it's rarely last min), was thinking a 6th former or other student, or older woman who ahs grandchildren? Where do you find these people though?

And what would you pay someone for literally just an hour (though could sometimes be just half an hour, sometimes 1.5hours, depends on when I manage to get out the house and when DH gets home)...I think the going babysitting rate round here is £8/hr (south London)

Gumtree. Netmums. Student unions (are you in a student part of S. London?). Childcare.co.uk

Personally I would bit the bullet and book someone for 2 hours to cover the eventuality of you leaving early and DH arriving home late, thus ensuring your 5-7pm window is definitely sorted so you're looking at around £15/time. That way it's enough to retain people!

could you dh worker longer hours one day and then come home earlier the next? my guess is that a job of 3 hours every two days would be more attractive then 1.5 hours every day

I reckon you should be able to find a student or even someone like a nanny/au pair who wants extra money.

find a local college that does courses in nursery training/early childcare etc and ask if you can put an ad up.

thanks - it's not every day but normally at least one day a week, and the day changes week to week depending what I do, DH is sometimes able to get home with just enough time for em to leave but then sometimes has meetings etc that can't be moved

I'll see if I can find a local college...where is the best place to look for students or au pairs/nannies for this sort of thing though?

Eeeek at £15 a time, I get paid very poorly, that's a big amount to add onto the costs of getting into town/to the theatre already

Would a childminder do the trick? Might fit in if she has someone who picks up at 5.30 anyway so it wouldnt affect her numbers?

Hello - I was in a similar position.

I phoned the head of our local girls' school (which has a sixth form) and asked her to recommend a girl - it worked out brilliantly.

As it's summer holiday time now you might find no-one in a school, but if you have a sixth form college nearby you could ask them to recommend someone who's just finished AS levels.

Most au pairs and nannies will still be working at that time, so I doubt you'll have much joy with them.

Netmums and gumtree are good places to advertise.

It will be quite expensive, unless you can find a student to do it for a fiver an hour and only be paid because most sitters either have a minimum time slot that they book for or want to be paid nanny rates. Minimum wage is just under £6 an hour for someone who's over 22 and it's not fair to pay less than that. I suspect people wouldn't do it for less in any case for the inconvenience as it seems like you defintiely need the care to be in your home.

You will need to book someone to cover the max time otherwise you risk going into overtime rates (which are usually time and a half) so even if you don't use someone for that time (I reckon you'll probably be looking to actually pay around a tenner a time) you might want to budget for it.