How much do you pay your babysitter?

[overthehill]

Can't see any threads on this subject, but I assume that some other people use teenage babysitters , & I'm wondering what your ideas are of what the going hourly rate should be. I guess it partly depends on where you live (we live in Yorkshire), & possibly how many sprogs you have & what ages they are. We once were informed by one girl that she thought we paid too little(!), & we don't want that to happen again, but we also don't want to have to take out a mortgage to go out for the evening.

Hiya overthehill

I am a cm and one of the families i minded before i went on mat leave has asked my ds1 and his gf to babysit.

They have babysat twice now.I didn't know what to tell them to ask for so i asked around.We live in Scotland btw.They get 4 pounds per hour before midnight and 5 pounds per hour after midnight.

HTH

well my DS is nearly 16 and desperate to babysit (for the money) wouldnt do it for less than £10.
Anyone need a sitter!!!

Have a look at sitters.co.uk - if they operate near you check their rates for "pros"

We use them in London - 6-7 quid an hour

must advertise DS and take a percentage!!!

Not sure what the going rate would be these days, but 15 years ago, I remember charging £1.50 per hour. If inflation averaged at 2.5%, per year then I think that would make it about £2.20 per hour now.

I would expect that most teenagers doing babysitting would be reasonably happy with £10-£20 per night (say 3-5 hours). As a teenager I remember comparing it to how much could be earnt doing a paper-round, not sure how much that would earn a teenager these days.

Don't feel you can really compare it with Sitters or any other professional childcarer. When parents pay for professional childcare, they pay a premium for that, whereas if they pay a unqualified teenager then they expect to pay less.

ohmigod £6 an hour - up north I don't think anyone would pay more than £10 for the night - hope not anyway - mine aren't old enough to use one yet!

For an unqualified teenager I would think £3.50 an hour was a good rate around here (East Anglia). For more children,or children who were awake most of the evening, I would pay more.

Why don't you agree the amount in advance, with the sitter, when you are arranging the babysitting? and then she won't feel disappointed by the rate?

When a teenage babysitter agrees to babysit, wouldn't they agree the rate first?
I know I'm a bit different, but when I was a teenage babysitter I used to produce a little booklet for families, which set out my fees and detailed training courses (such as First Aid) plus references from families for whom I had babysat.

Would pay anything from £4 to £5 an hour. No more! Guess it depends what you expect them to do.

Pay more if you want them to bath and feed sproglets, but if they are just reading them a story, then watching telly and drinking tea - less.

I used to nanny down south and regularly babysat for parents in our neighbourhood and usually got between £15 - £35 and a paid taxi home/stayed with them the night/walked home by childrens daddy.

i do not accept less than £6 per hour

and im the cheapest baby sitter i know!

im a fully qualified, and apporved nanny, with crb / 1st aid etc to go with it.... also have a degree!

im thinking of putting my price up to £8 per hour, esp on sat night...

but i dont really like babysitting much now anyway... would rather be doing my own thing!

i figure £6 per hour for a sat NIGHT is a bargain cause im paid more than that for mon - fri 'social' daytime hours!

would never babysit at all for less than £20, but wanna make it nearer £25!

i know babysitters who charge £40+ for a sat night.

Im down south by the way in hampshire

But NannyL, you aren't a teenage babysitter are you (or are you still a teenager)? I feel that your price reflects that you are a qualified and experienced nanny.

U are right nick.... im not a teenageer any more.. (though i am 19 at heart lol)

but i know of lots of teenagers getting over £5 per hour!

I paid £50 the last time I went out but that was quite a lot of hours. Normally I try to get the adult children to do it for nothing.

Thanks for all your replies, everyone. It seems there's not really a consensus, & I guess the best thing is to make sure they're happy with the rate before you go out. But I think the girls we use are so polite that they wouldn't like to say if they thought it was too little...but then they may vote with their feet if they get offered a better rate somewhere else! We are also part of a babysitting circle & often try to use that as it bypasses the problem.

I pay about £5/hr. its usually 8pm to 11.30pm so I give them a £20.
I havent used teenagers yet. Mine are 20+(some 60+)
Over midnight I would pay more obviously.

I pay 7 to 8 pounds per hour (in London)... but that is for qualified nanny/moonlighting nursery staffers who are uber capable.

Our babysitter is paid £20 for a regular night (being used from 7.30pm - 11pm ish) & she gets paid double that for a late Saturday night, where we could be home around 2am.

I used to baby sit 7pm until anytime between 12-3 for £20 the night at 19.

I think £20 for a night, with access to drinks and possibly nibbles is more then enough, and if your babysitter wants more, I'd replace em to be honest!

Just to add, that I got paid that for both Friday or Saturday nights

I pay £4 p/h And my lovely teens will even do bath and bed! (N London here)

my dd gets paid £3.50/hr from one regular,£5.00/hr from another and £2.50 from the one she hates going to.The cheapest one entails feeding and entertaining and putting to bed.I've told her to tell them she charges more but doubt she'll say anything.Tbh she's happy with any money .

I would say you'd be safe giving £20.OO for the eveing provided your not too late.