14-yr-old babysitter - is it legal?

[loobs2]

A friend's daughter will be 14 in Aug and I'd like her to babysit 2 evenings a wk for me from Sept - but not sure she's old enough. Can anyone advise?

There's no legal limit. If you think she's responsible enough then fine.

There is no legal limit BUT if god forbid anything happened whilst you were out if the babysitter is under 16 you are considered responsible, whereas if the sitter is 16+ they are held responsible. In a way it makes no odds as whatever happened has still happened whoever is responsible iyswim but if there is an investigation and its felt the under age sitter was not mature enough or capable to be left unsupervised legal action such as prosecution for neglect can happen.
I'm not saying this to scare you, just to make you aware. It will depend on how old your child/ren is/are, how mature/capable she is, how far away you'll be, how long its for etc.
I used to sit for my neighbours granddaughter regularly from when I was 14 but I was boringly sensible and had the bacck-up that my mum was only next door if I had a problem.

you can be held responsible for neglect or whatever no matter how old your babysitter is if that person is obviously not capable. if you think that the 14 year old is responsible enough go for it.

I have a 14 year old baby-sitter who lives 2 doors away. I only ask her to baby-sit when I know her mum is going to be in and we are not going far (usually to friends around the corner).

Does she live nearby? Could you come up with a similar arrangement?