Babysitting fees?

[Jasminexo]

Hello,
i've been asked by one of my friends if i'd babysit their two children, one is six and the other is four.
I'm a Level 3 student studying childcare and hold a full clean CRB, I'm 20 years old.
I've been reading and some are charging £8.00 and some £10 for four hours.
I was thinking along the lines of £5.00 an hour.
Is this a good rate?

Depends on where you are, entirely. Here in Greater London I charge £10 an hour, because every babysitter I know charges the same. At home in Cornwall it's more £3 an hour!

That's a very good rate. If I am paying for a sitter I would rather pay a little more in the confidence that I'm not going to get a call and knowing that my children are being well looked after. My two are 4 and 2 so I pay a little more because they are younger, the last time we had a sitter I paid her £25 for 3 hrs, the children slept through so technically she got paid to watch X factor all night, but its piece of mind and that is priceless IMO.

I live in the countryside in Wales, so there's not many people about who babysit... xo

Have you looked at Gumtree and Childcare to see what people are asking for? It can give you an idea. I charge £7ph in SE City, it's a low rate for nannies in my area though many others charge a lot less.

We pay our babysitter 8/hour which is above average for the area because I want to keep her! Also I pay the same whether it's an early sit so she has more to do or a late sit where DS is already asleep.

I used to pay a friend's eldest daughter 5/hour which she was happy with. I wouldn't want to pay any less IYSWIM so at 5/hour I'd probably think you were a bargain :)

It's worth starting out a little low to get some good references.

I pay an experienced person who works at the children's nursery £10 an hour, zone 6 London. It seems to mean that she always says yes when I ask if she's available (don't ask v often) and doesn't object if the oldest one (6) wants to stay up and watch Strictly on a Sat eve.

£8.50

I charge £8 an hour before midnight, £20 an hour (and a lift home) after - I don't like doing after midnight.... don't care if kids are still up or not...

have many years experience of babysitting + 2 kids of my own, no qualifications in childcare.