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Paid childcare

Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

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Original poster

How much to pay babysitter?

39 replies

chaosisawayoflife · 02/05/2010 14:50

One of the girls from DD's nursery is babysitting for me tomorrow as I have to go to work despite it being a bank holiday. I work 12 hour shifts so she'll be looking after DD from 7.45am to about 8.15pm. I asked her how much she wanted to charge and she said she'd let me decide how much I want to pay her! Argh! What would you charge for a 12.5 hour day? It's in my home and dd is nearly 2.

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Missus84 · 02/05/2010 15:11

I'd expect at least £100 for that.

agedknees · 02/05/2010 16:05

This is a hard one. Think missus is about right. I bet it is not worth you going out to work.

nbee84 · 02/05/2010 16:16

I think you could get away with £80 if £100 is over your budget. That is £6.40 per hour which is probably as much as she gets paid at the nursery (though it is a bank hol - so maybe £100 is better??)

smallishsheep · 02/05/2010 16:17

How old is she?
Tbh, I think £50 is more than acceptable but maybe I am a skinflint

agedknees · 02/05/2010 16:19

But £50 not minimal wage so is it legal?

smallishsheep · 02/05/2010 16:20

Will she be declaring it as income?
I didn't realise I had to pay my babysitter minimum wage. How ridiculous

luciemule · 02/05/2010 16:28

Doubt she'll be declaring it.
I would pay our babysitter £5/hr. Where we just moved from, our sitter looked delighted when I said I would pay her that as her advert had said £3.50!
So that would be 62.50 for 12.5 hrs.

smallishsheep · 02/05/2010 16:33

Exactly. It's a cash in hand job. Therefore I would have no problem paying less than minimum wage.

FantasticMissFox · 02/05/2010 16:40

£50 for a 12hour shift on a bank holiday? Thats just over £4 an hour. If you want her to still like you I'd give her at least £80!!

Laquitar · 02/05/2010 16:41

'babysitting rates' usually mean evening time, when children are in bed.

In your case it should be 'nannying rates'.

smallishsheep · 02/05/2010 16:41

Noone's making her do it though. And she's said to name your price. I am assuming from that that she is either young, or is just doing you a favour. Fwiw, I would keep the price low, and then be able to use her more often if I could

luciemule · 02/05/2010 16:43

If she's only young (under 20), I think she'll be more than happy with a fiver an hour. It's babysitting - she's not a nanny so I would assume she's not tidying bedrooms, washing and ironing DDs clothes etc. Just playing, feeding and entertaining her. As a babysitter, i would only be expecting to care directly for the child, not do nanny duties. I'm a trained doula and only charge £10 an hour so think a fiver is fine but to babysit, I would only charge a fiver.

Missus84 · 02/05/2010 16:46

Less than minimum wage for a 12 hour shift on a bank holiday is exploitative imo. She is an experienced and possibly qualified childcarer, doing sole charge - the work is harder and more responsibility than the work in a nursery so she should be paid more!

£5 an hour may be fine for evening babysitting after the children are in bed, but looking after a toddler all day is a different kettle of fish.

smallishsheep · 02/05/2010 16:49

Calm down Missus. Nothing exploitative about it. As I said, she doesn't have to do it, and she has asked the Op to name her price. I would be chuffed to get £50 for a day of looking after a 2 year old

purepurple · 02/05/2010 16:49

Give her £60 which is just under £5 an hour but more than the £50 suggested.
My reasoning is this

she is probably young and has no family of her own
she is probably getting paid for today anyway
she has not named her own price

luciemule · 02/05/2010 16:50

I would have thought that if she was bothered, she would have said how much she wanted.

smallishsheep · 02/05/2010 16:50

'Harder and more responsibility' than a day at nursery? I beg to differ. God only knows what I should be being paid for looking after my ds then. I should imagine the day will involve a walk to the park, a nap, some colouring and some playing. You can't compare it to nursery

Missus84 · 02/05/2010 16:53

In a nursery you have the support and back-up of colleagues and managers, the day is mapped out, and it's a shorter working day with breaks. Sole charge of a toddler is much more responsibility with no breaks.

smallishsheep · 02/05/2010 16:55

I know missus. Welcome to my life

Laquitar · 02/05/2010 16:55

lol at 'just playing, feeding and enternating her'.

Missus84 · 02/05/2010 16:59

I think it's a shame that people so undervalue the work of childcarers.

purepurple · 02/05/2010 17:00

I work in an nursery and spend all day dealing with fights, tears, tantrums, accidents and lost belongings. And that's just the staff

smallishsheep · 02/05/2010 17:03

I don't undervalue your work
I'm just saying, if it were me, I'd offer £50, and I'd be happy to take that to if the roles were reversed. I look after my dc all day for nothing. I know it's not the same thing at all, but I would think the babysitter tomorrow has the chance at having a nice day with the child, and the bonus of getting paid for it too. If it is so damn loathsome to you, and you'd expect 'at least £100 for that' then noone's making you do it

Missus84 · 02/05/2010 17:06

It's not just "having a nice day" though, it's working - and giving up 12 hours of a bank holiday. To say that the person looking after your child all day is only worth £4 an hour to you is pretty insulting.

purplefish · 02/05/2010 17:10

How much will you get paid tomorrow? Maybe you could halve that ie half for you and half for her?

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