Babysitting rate for a lodger?

[ShirleyEllis]

Hello!

I am in the process of looking for a lodger to support my income as a sole parent of one.

I interviewed a woman this morning who is interested in reducing her monthly rent in return for some babysitting hours. As doing too much of this would negate the financial advantages of getting a lodger in in the first place this would only be occasional work.

My question is how much should I offer to pay her? As she won’t be paying tax on this I wondered if £8 an hour seems reasonable for anytime she has him in the daytime?

Evenings once he’s in bed (after 8pm) if she’s going to be in anyway I wondered if I could get away with a flat rate of £15 or £20 as he’s so likely to get up and I’d be back at 11pm-12pm... I’d be putting him to bed first and then potentially nipping to the local pub or to see a band once or twice a month.

Don’t want to take the piss but am also on a money saving drive.

What do you think?

xx

Are you doing a DBS check/Claire’s law? I would not be happy with this arrangement to be honest.

Yes of course I will

How old is your child? I think your child needs to build a relationship with the lodger before you start leaving them.

Does the lodger have any experience of children or is she just looking at making her rent as cheap as possible?

Something doesn't quite sit right that your child is a bargaining tool for the lodger's rental amount. Once you know and trust her by all means let her babysit but not from the off in exchange for a fixed rent.

Also, if you withdraw the babysitting and put up her rent it may cause you problems further down the line.

Thanks for your advice. My son is three. I wouldn’t dream of leaving him with somebody I didn’t know and trust and would always ensure a relationship was in place between the two of them.

The babysitting element was actually my suggestion not hers as she said the rent was a bit expensive and she loves children (not in the same sentence!).

While I realise all the above are issues (and ones I am already naturally considering) I wonder if anybody would be able to comment on the rates I propose? Do they seem ballpark or a bit mean?

Thanks!

I'm not sure what the going rate for a babysitter is but depending where you are in the country childminders charge from £3 per hour to £10 per hour.

I guess night time £20 for a couple of hours sounds about right but I would not pay anywhere near that for daytime babysitting. And after all, as it's meant to be a favour to reduce rent you don't want to be paying full whack.

I think the best way for it to work is she pays the full rent you are charging and then she earns cash in hand for ad hoc babysitting.

Thanks PrincessScarlett. Going rate here is generally £8 an hour (for evenings, have never got somebody to look after him in the day before so don’t know if this is different) and you’ve usually got to give £10 on top for taxi home so I guess I’m saving on that at least.

Giving her cash in hand rather than reducing the rent is a great idea thank you.

Rates depend on location and experience of the sitter to an extent. So for example, I may get £11.50-£14 during the day and £10-£11 in evening.

I think you need to talk to her and agree something reasonable between you. Your proposal sounds ok but the flat-rate part may need adjusting as you could be out 3 hours, or 6 hours and it would be the same amount.

You don't want to be in a position where you have to guarantee that there will be work and you don't want to be in a position where they are saying they can't afford the rent this month as you have not given enough babysitting work. So I'm not sure how it will work in terms of your relationship... you want a lodger who pays the rent regardless of you paying them anything, as some months maybe you won't need any childcare.

£8 am hour for tax free unskilled care wow why would you pay this?