sitters.co.uk another thread about a thread

[germyrabbit]

but was surprised to see they paid £22-27 for three hours for childcare professional babysitting

this is very cheap for qualified, mostly ofsted registered practitioners isn't it?

am a bit fed up to think that's the going rate. not really worth signing up is it

I use sitters and think its £6.25 an hour - this is for evening babysitting so just sitting watching my tv whilst my children are asleep in bed - I've always thought that's pretty generous to be honest.

really? maybe for a teenager

Well how much do you want to sit in someone's house when their children are in bed and asleep. I generally pay £30 for 4 hours babysitting and I don't know anyone who pays anymore than that.

oh okay, i just thought it was quite low as they were promoting the fact that all their sitters were highly qualified etc. just wouldn't give up my evenings for that amount

I suppose it depends partly on where you are in the county but that's about the max I would pay. The thing is you may be really highly qualified but as MrsCB says all you're doing mostly is watching TV so you can't expect to get full value for the qualifications imo.

I pay my sitter, though not through an agency £7.50 an hour. She works at DS's nursery and is a qualified TA etc, plus I have 3 DC so think it's worth it, especially as the oldest are staying up later, so she has to entertain them and put them to bed, read stories etc

Not sure I answered your query here though...

I think the payoff for the lower rate is that they deal with the bookings, so you work when you like (rather than spending ages finding clients of your own & then feeling obliged when they call).

It is typically 'on top' of your day job & they specify that kids need to already be in bed.

As a nanny I don't go through sitters as they pay far lower than I can earn on my own

What you want are local clients so one of the sitters I regularly use is a cm in my village so she just walks down and does her babysitting whilst watching tv etc here. Not much hassle for her and welcome extra money for her.

i guess it's okay if the children are asleep and stay asleep!

That's why you need to choose your clients wisely

lol well i am highly qualified (though for over 5s) none of that early years shite for me

£10 per hour thank you very much will stay until dawn

london and home counties only

I'm in London and all the nannies I know charge £8-10ph for babysitting.

If only children were asleep, I wonder if that really is the case, what if it's 6:30pm are children really going to be in bed?

Sitters don't specify kids need to be in bed; ours usually are, but not always, and it's never an issue. Might be more so with very young ones who fight bed though I guess.

Quote 'well i am highly qualified (though for over 5s) none of that early years shite for me'

Early years shite? really!

So would you not babysit for a family with under 5s then?
Hope none of your prospective clients are reading this thread!

fgs sorry for being flippant on saturday night

It's a bit of a non sequitur!

Qualifications in the context of babysitters ime is generally to do with being able to calm and manage young children (toiletting/feeding/separation anxiety/choking/vomiting/ overheating etc etc etc). Once they get bigger is exactly when babysitting becomes the kind of responsibility that a willing teen could manage. It's not like the babysitter is throwing in a few hours of homework help!

well i wouldn't do it anyway! it's very badly paid!

On the other hand - I did look into getting a homework helper for DS. The subject was a bit niche (& my DM was sifting the adverts choosily) - but the cheapest tutour was £20 per hour while the most expensive was £40 per hour. For primary aged DC!

If you really are qualified - maybe that's a better gig for you?

The sitters I've had from sitters have typically been young TAs & turned up with an armful of textbooks (presumably studying to be teachers) - so it does work for them, I think.

Flippant in your eyes, not necessary in mine.

Why are you complaining about it then? Some of us need the money you know...

You see I still don't think its badly paid - its babysitting after all for on the whole children who are asleep.

I dont use sitters as under the going rate and yes the kids may be sleeping but the way i see it is you are doing night shift. People can be sleeping in a care home or a hospital ward, its still the worker's job. This is still our job and at the end of the day, sitters do charge under the going rate. I dont have a problem with people using them, nannies or parents though, just my opinion.

This is interesting because when there have been threads on babysitting rates on mn before - sitters was near the top of what people were prepared to pay.