£ How Much? £

[NappyChange]

My friend has a childminder who comes to her house 3 days a week. Lovely girl and we spend our Monday mornings together taking the little boy she looks after and my DD for a walk. I have asked her to mind my DD once a week for a couple of hours, not every week but also the occasional evening, once every six weeks - whilst we have a night out. She asked if £5 an hour would be okay - does this sound TOO cheap? I dont want to embarrass her by double checking but I dont want her being out of pocket either. We are in Kent/S London area.

Is she a childminder? coming to someones house?

Do you mean a baby sitter? or a nanny?

£5 is quite cheap for a babysitter

Sounds more like a nanny to me?

Sounds very cheap to me-ok for evenings (but £5.50/£6 would be better) but not daytime-that should be £8 per hour.
She sounds great!

We pay our babysitter £5 an hour ,even if we use him in the day, because that's what he insists his hourly rate is. (He's an NVQII qualified ex-nursery worker). But I feel that's cheap, so always round the time up, and often add an extra fiver on top - he's learnt to not argue now. And he doesn't do solely daytinmes - if he comes when they are still up he'll have them when awake for an hour but then 4 or so hours to get paid watching TV. And the only daytimes he does are mornings after he's stayed overnight a couple of times, and then I've insisted on paying him for the time he's asleep as well. We're in Cambridge btw.

If that's what she's asking for then I guess that's what you should pay. You don't want to embarass your friend either if she's only getting £5/hour there.

I think you should at least be paying minimum wage, which is 5.35 an hour. That still seems very low for day time work though.

Minimum wage is £5.52 if she is 22 or older - I assumed she is younger or charging per child

Hi all, thanks for your comments and I was mortified to learn the minimum wage is £5.35 and she only asked for £5 from us. I believe the friends who she works for 3 days a week pay her more than this so without saying anything I will round the time up and put an extra fiver in (like prufrock).

I would like to know how much I should pay a babysitter for my 2 children? My youngest boy is 7 years old and has Autistic Spectrum Disorder. My older boy is 9 years old and not autistic. I need to work from home so she will have to take them out while I work. Then, my next question is how much should I pay her for just the younger boy when the older one is away at his grandparents?
She is a qualified teacher's assistant who helps my younger boy in the Autistic Facility at the school.
Thanks for any ideas.

NicBrock, not sure what you should pay per hour but I'm almost certain that you should expect to pay the same amount whether it's two children or one.

depends where you are nicbrock where r u?!

Sorry about that I am in Cumbria on the West Coast - Whitehaven Thanks

Sounds VERY cheap - i am also in kent and charge £10ph BUT if that is what she asked for then she must be happy with it

forgot to say, does minium wage apply to cm?

ie if you have child for 10hrs a day,for easy maths - the mum must at least pay you £55.20 gross a day? Obv you sort out your tax and Ni

No - because C/Mers are self employed working from their own home and can have more children & offset expenses against earning

Minimum wage has nothing to do with it, unless it turns out this woman is in fact a nanny. Sounds like tax evasion to me. You better ask to see her registration or you could get in a ahole lot of hot water for employing her illegally and not paying her taxes. Or maybe it is she who would be in trouble for childminding without a license? Anyway, not really a mess I'd like to be in the middle of.

Agree with pp.

confused

if this woman is a childminder then she should have her own rates.

Most childminders charge between 2.50 and 4 an hour during the day.

hey lunavix.

i don't think this lady is a cm tho, not if she is going to the house of the children to work? IYKWIM.