Babysitting - what's the going rate in South East???

[looneytune]

Hi everyone

Just wondered what the going rate was these days? I'm in Berkshire.

Cheers

depends who it is.

girls from the nursery want £8/hour
i generally pay £7/hour
sitters is less, about £6/hour i think but you have a monthly or subscription fee on top of that.
friends of mine pay local teenagers £5/hour

it really depends who it is! (and who you choose will depend on how old your dcs are and whether they will need looking after or just someone to watch TV while you are out).

am in SW London.

Thanks for that. Will look at sitters as I can't remember what their min hours that you have to book/pay for are.

I'm a childminder and usually just offer overnight stays for current mindees but some babysitting has come up and I've decided to think about standard 'babysitting' charges and maybe do more of this. I do babysit for one mindee atm and they pay very well (they insist) as they are happier me doing it as their dd knows me very well as with me so much. There may be other families wanting this now so thought I'd just have a think about charges.

I also wanted to ask on behalf of a nanny friend who may be doing this for the family she works for.

Is the rate usually the same regardless of time of night? Also, is the rate usually the same on a Fri/Sat night than in the week? Oh, and what do people normally set as their minimum hours? (i.e. I wouldn't bother if it was just an hour iyswim)

TIA

Hi Looney, I charge 7.50 per hour, minium of 3 hrs charge and after midnight it's 10 per hour.

I seem to get alot of enquiries locally so I think it sounds pretty reasonable.

Cheers Saz, that's useful to know. I'll have a think I'd rather do overnight care but I'm sort of wanting to offer both at the moment. I just want to do it for mindees atm, think that's what you do. There is a childminder in Lower Earley who charges £10ph but I wasn't sure what the actual going rate round here was. Obviously you're near me so good to know your rate, cheers

i don't pay any more after midnight, but tbh it is rarely that much after midnight anyway.
saying that i usually round it up so a bit more anyway.

i wouldn't expect to pay less than £20 so if ii've only been a couple of hours i would give them £20 anyway. but that's not agreed/formal, just what i do.

don't pay anymore for midweek vs fri/sat. however i often think the girls at the nursery should charge less. if they charged say £5 i would take them up on it and me and dh would go to the gym for a couple of hours mmid-week or out for a quick drink. At £8/hr it has to be something pretty special to pay a babysitter.

I am in east midlands and charge from £10 an hr and this is in the childs home. I charge a min of 3hrs.

Thanks for all that. Seems to vary then. Keep all the variations coming, will help me decide on the fee I'd be happy to charge

in kent and charge £10ph and have min of 4hrs

and i have to turn down work, so for those who say it is too much - it isnt

yes you can pay £5 and have a teenager etc

Must admit as I hardly have any time to myself as it is, if I do it I think I'll say I'll be happy to do it for £10ph as I'd find it easier them staying overnight tbh! Anyway, it's about £10ph I've been getting so far anyway so makes sense to stick with that as I only want to work for mindees anyway

Looney, you may want to take a look at a price comparison I did - NannyNick v Sitters as while agencies like Sitters charge a lower hourly rate, private providers such as ourselves don't tend to charge Membership Fee, Booking Fee, or have a 4-hour minimum charge... thus we can charge more per hour but still be cheaper for parents than sitters, in certain circumstances (such as if the parents do not need a babysitter very often and tend to only go out for 3 hours at a time, which is often long enough to watch a movie).

I'm in north east London but also travel to north, central and south london. I charge about £10/hour. Sometimes more is offered and I don't say no. Often more is offered on sat. night. Occasionally less if in bed and local. More work than i need with that £. I'd imagine berkshire is similar.

nannynick- LOVE the website. Has it been well used by parents looking for babysitters? Is it invaluable to you etc?

my 14 yr old dd gets £5 an hour in yorkshire

think rates on here sound low tbh

my 14 yr old dd gets £5 an hour in yorkshire

think rates on here sound low tbh

Oh, didn't see the latest messages. Nick, thanks for that, will have a good look

PaulaYatesFan - you have a good point there! I was earning about that as a 14+ year old but now I'm a mother of 2 and a registered childminder, I think I deserve a little more than when I was 14 I'm sticking with my £10ph as I want to make it worth my while if I'm going to do this on top of childminding. Tbh, I'm not wanting loads of work from this, just to offer the service to the parents I work with now

looney - that's my attitude as well. I upped prices a couple of years back, so that I wasn't babysitting as often. Strangely back then while it did put some parents off (lost some clients) I gained new ones. Over recent months things have slowed down a lot - but that gives me more time to Mumsnet, Twitter and go on short holidays (never used to go on holiday much - now I've been to Center Parcs 4 times in the past year!).

Good for you Nick!!! I certainly haven't the energy to be doing REGULAR babysitting just yet, maybe when ds2 is older but for now, a bit of extra money as and when is fine