Babysitting rates for American student in London?

[curiousyankee]

I'm doing a little market research and I would appreciate any help from London dwellers.

I'm an American university student, 20 yrs old, coming to London January-June (and maybe longer) to study at the School for Oriental and African Studies. According to the website it's in the "heart of Bloomsbury" (not familiar with London, so not sure what that means, but looking forward to finding out), and I'll likely be living near the school.

I'd like to do some babysitting work while I'm in London for extra cash, probably just nights and weekends, but maybe afternoons as well (depending on school schedule).

I have about 10 years experience, I know a lot about children's books, I specialize in getting tough kids to sleep. I do have references, but I probably won't have a work permit, I don't know if that will be a major stumbling block or not.

All this considered, what would be a reasonable rate for me to charge?

Hmm - not sure whether this is strictly relevant, but I pay £6 per hour further out (London does sprawl!)
Our area isn't as smart as Bloomsbury, but on the other hand our babysitter is good and experienced.
Lots to do in Bloomsbury BTW; you'll be minutes away from Covent Garden, Oxford St, Theareland, British Museum, major galleries etc etc.
And I may get corrected on this, but I don't think the lack of a work permit will be a major issue for a spot of babysitting.

Check what your visa restrictions will be. You may find that you can't do ANY work at all. If you are caught breaching your visa, it will have serious consequences on your college course, plus may prevent you returning to the UK in the future.

We pay agency sitters
Weekdays: £5.65 per hour
Saturdays: £6.70 per hour

Are you on a student visa? If so you will USUALLY be allowed to do up to 20 hours per week during term time.

Get your unis international office or advice centre to check your visa for you before you do any kind of work. And make sure you don't exceed the number of permitted hours per week.

You don't mention qualifications, but I would suggest that you bring as much paperwork with you as possible - so certificates for any childcare courses you have done, first aid (think you may call that CPR in the US), plus of course your written references.

What parents will pay for evening babysitting varies quite a bit. Some parents will consider £5 per hour too expensive, while others will happily pay £10 per hour.

There are national agencies who provide babysitters - TheBlonde has posted one agencies prices (though on top of those I expect there may be a membership fee and booking fee, which bumps the cost up for parents quite a bit, plus there may be a minimum number of hours charge).

Thus pay wise I think you will need to play things as they come... set a price to start with, see what interest you get, then lower/increase it on subsequent adverts to see if that changes response rates.

My friend lives in a fairly upmarket area in London, not as central as Bloomsbury, but she pays between 7-8 per hour + cab home if it is late. She likes the baby sitter to come around 6pm to mind the kids while she gets ready, so is likely to pay 6 hours + cab.

Try advertising through the American Women's clubs.

www.fawco.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=436&Itemid=427

They will be less likely to care aout the usual British qualifications (like CRB and NNEB, etc.)

Thanks for the advice everyone, hope that all the people I meet in Britain are this friendly. :-)

Yep, a student visa lets you work part-time.

As a 20-year old, you'd probably get paid a bit more than the normal rate for a 15-year old, which would be around £5 an hour.

You sound like a fab babysitter.