How much should I pay someone per hour to look after my 2dc in London?

[MinkyBorage]

I know this has been done to death, but I can't seem to find what I need on other threads. I live in London N8 as does the lovely girl who will be minding them. She is about to embark upon what looks like it will be a very successful career in something unrelated to childminding, but is brilliant with dc as has about 8 younger brothers and sisters. It will be a flexible arrangement, maybe two afternoons one week, and nothing for a couple of weeks. She will be coming to mine, either staying here or taking dc to park etc etc.

OK, I'm thinking £9 or £10 per hour, just had a more thorough scan of previous messages. What do you think??????

Are you thinking gross? Are you thinking that she is your employee? What about hliday entitlement, sick pay, contract, notice perieod, probation period, and so on????

I was thinking of paying her cash in hand, and had not even considered paying her sick pay, holiday entitlement or a notice period because the arrangement we have will be entirely casual, and we are both very flexible. It is likely that she will be cancelling arrangements with short notice because of the nature of the job she is trying to get in to at the moment. Am I being very naive about this? Do people not do things like this?

For ad=hoc care, cash in hand is perfectly usual. Someone who is after a career in nannying will want paying via the books though, because of the national insurance etc. But for adhoc pre- or after-school care, or daytime babysitting arrangements are generally informal, ie cash.

£8 per hour is the going rate, or was a few years ago. £10 is generous, I think. But I tend to aim for payment on the generous side anyway you want the childcarer to have a nice warm glow from knowing that you appreciate her and are prepared to show it financially. But do think about what you will do re. arrangements for money that she spends in the course of looking after your children snacks, payment for playgroups/music classes, odd trips to cafes, entry to soft play etc.

I'm in SW London and I pay my childminder £5.50 per hour. Rates vary hugely ime.

I think £10 per hour is too much. Even expensive day nurseries usually work out at about £5 per hour for a full day.

I have had a qualified nanny doing odd bits of daytime babysitting and was paying her £8 an hour a few years ago. A friend is paying a Romanian language school student and qualified primary teacher £8 to do odd bits of pre- and post school childcare, so I'm fairly sure that's the going rate. Proper childminders are cheaper, I know, but I think you're paying for the flexibility if someone comes to you.

Thanks frogs, maybe I'll go for £9 per hour.
Blimey Lyra, that sounds like bargain. I guess your cm looks after more children thn justyour dc.

That's true, they charge less because they have multiple children.

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Crouch End, whtabout you?

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Hi MinkyBorage

I live in SE London and I'm in a similar situation to you, in that I pay a lovely young lady to come in and look after my 2 year old DD two mornings a week, sometimes one morning a week, but it is done on a 'cash in hand' basis as it's a casual arrangement. She usually takes DD out to the park, library, local playgroup etc. I pay her £8ph and make sure other expenses are covered if she is paying to go to a playgroup etc. If she is free and in the area and I need to get some work done on my PC, I may need an hour tops, then I will pay her £10 because it's only one hour but any more than an hour is always £8ph.

HTH

if she is experienced, I would say a minimum of £10 per hour

She still has to take her tax and NI out of that

if it kind of casual arrangement like babysitting i would say £8-£12 an hr