How much to pay a babysitter

happy35

does the friend want to be paid or will she be offended if money is offered?

I used to look after a friends son when she was at work for free, he played with my son and I was happy to help as a friend. I knew that she needed the money so wouldnt have expected her to pay me as that would negate the benefit of her going to work

I did used to get the odd nice bit of makeup etc as a treat now and again but didnt expect anything although I did appreciate it and loved the gesture

Fly_Baby

£10 an hour sounds too much to me - and I live in a very expensive part of SE. Babysitters (occasional help) here charge about 5-6 pounds, nannies (qualified etc) - 7-8 pounds.

hermum

happy35 wrote: »

does the friend want to be paid or will she be offended if money is offered?

I used to look after a friends son when she was at work for free, he played with my son and I was happy to help as a friend. I knew that she needed the money so wouldnt have expected her to pay me as that would negate the benefit of her going to work

I did used to get the odd nice bit of makeup etc as a treat now and again but didnt expect anything although I did appreciate it and loved the gesture

She's not a friend as such, she's the lady who baby sits him, and over the years they have become friends.
She wants someone reliable, it's for a long period of time so no she doesn't want to rely on favours.
My friend has to work that weekend & can afford to pay for it. She can't afford to have a friend have something better come up & decide she didn't want him.

hermum

liney wrote: »

If it's 2 days, and 2 nights it works out to around 40 hours. 40 hours at £5.00ph (which does not even meet the NMW) is £200.00.

However, the lady isn't qualified, and i'd betting that she won't be registering as self employed and declaring her earnings for tax or benefits purposes. If it was a one off then i'd not be concerned, but on a regular basis I don't think i'd personally be happy with this arrangment as it just isn't 'above board'.

If it's once a month, i'd be more inclined to speak to a friend or family member with children and work out an arrangment where no money changed hands. Or see Grandma.

I haven't said whether she's qualified, as I'm asking purely for advice on wages.
As so many people are concerned, the lady in question was a school teacher for many years, she left to nurse her husband who died a few years ago.
She isn't on benefits of any kind so benefits wouldn't give a toss, she is SE as she does several things, dog walking, cleaning & sitting for an elderly man. I know that she does self assessment for tax purposes so this I am sure will be added on to it.
I'm not quite sure why a simple how much do people pay or charge for this then becomes something totally different.
I have said several times why she doesn't want to use friends, she has no family.
I'm sorry that this reply is abrupt but it seems as though people are assuming that my friend is leaving him with someone she doesn't know who is going to defraud the system.
That isn't what the thread is about.
Thank you for your answers.

Fly_Baby

hermum, I think people on this thread are just astounded that your friend will be looking to spend so much on childcare for quite a grown-up boy, and so are trying to work out a cheaper way for her to be able to work away from home.

hermum

Fly_Baby wrote: »

hermum, I think people on this thread are just astounded that your friend will be looking to spend so much on childcare for quite a grown-up boy, and so are trying to work out a cheaper way for her to be able to work away from home.

I understand that but that isn't an issue, she doesn't want cheap childcare.
She's more than happy with the sitter.
It's going to be for a weekend a month, so if the wage bill for the weekend is £200 that's only £50 a week.
She won't be working away from home, she'll be going into work for 2 nights, coming home in the mornings & obviously needs to sleep on the day when she's back on duty that night. Hence the need for a day sitter.
He's not old enough to be left on his own during the day.
It seems that some of the people who are horrified at not having a qualified sitter are the ones suggesting that a friends parent could look after him, they probably aren't qualified in child care. They just happen to have children the same age.
If I said that the 16 year old girl was going to look after him I could understand the horror but she's a middle aged lady.
This lady will have no distractions while looking after the boy, no chance of them breaking friends on a Friday. She probably won't get measles, mumps, chicken pox etc & not want to have him.
I think that I'm getting a bit heated as it seems that people are implying that she's being thoughtless & not doing the best for him.

Lunar_Eclipse

claire16c wrote: »

Last week I babysat from 8pm til 1.30am and got £50. So 5.5 hours and til quite late. But sometimes theyll pay me £60 for the same. Seems to depend on what notes the Dad has in his wallet! lol For 4 hours Id probably expect about £30 if Im charging £7 an hour as its kind of embarassing if a parent were to count out pound coins to make it £28!

However Im babysitting for another couple this week for 3 hours, 8-11, I reckon I'll get about £25-30 and maybe a few quid for petrol - it really does depend on the family they can all pay quite differently, but the main families I baby sit for just seem to pay me £50-60 , but I do tend to be there a bit longer and later than what your friend is doing.

Where are you babysitting? I can only assume it's a large city like London, or for very affluent families. Your earnings for standard babysitting are really high.

We live in an expensive part of the South East, where the going rate is £5/hour. It's £6.45 at weekends through a national agency.

My husband has a well paid job in London, but we still can't justify the expensive of a babysitter often, particularly if there are costs associated with going out (ie a restaurant as opposed to dinner at friends.) We usually do swaps with friends, family help us out, or we stay in. Also, I would have no qualms about counting out pound coins to pay £28, instead of £30. And petrol money, they have more money than sense.

To the OP, I think the £100-120 ball park figures suggested are reasonable for the 8pm-4pm timeframe mentioned. If it was two nights in a row, I would offer £200 and ask if she was comfortable with that amount. Personally, I suspect she'll be delighted. It's a significant amount of money given that she still has some control over that time and the child is 10 and not two, which makes a difference.

KiKi

hermum wrote: »

I think that I'm getting a bit heated as it seems that people are implying that she's being thoughtless & not doing the best for him.

It happens a lot on this board, I'm afraid - someone asks a question of 'how much' and it becomes a debate on the rights and wrongs of it. Sometimes that can be appropriate, but clearly your friend is happy, and she simply wants to know the going rate.

I think your friend is doing just fine. It's her choice who she employs, her choice who she leaves her son with (who is NOT grown up and able to be left alone) and if she and her son are happy, the simple answer is around £7 an hour for the eve and day, with £20 for the overnight.

KiKi

kavics17

I do proxy parenting very often, I am in SW London. I charge for the first 4 hours the basic babysitting rate, than £20 for overnight and from the moment the child is awake again the babysitting rate per hour. So from 8p.m till 4 p.m (based that the child wakes at 8) I'd give the lady £25+£20+8x£6.25=£95. I would offer £100 and make sure that there is enough food for her on that day for dinner and lunch the following day.

OP, i'm with you on this one, as long as your friend and her son is happy with the lady, she trusts her 100% and the lady is happy to do the occassional weekend work, I can't see anything wrong. Good luck to her and hope the lady will agree and happy to help her out.

hermum

KiKi wrote: »

It happens a lot on this board, I'm afraid - someone asks a question of 'how much' and it becomes a debate on the rights and wrongs of it. Sometimes that can be appropriate, but clearly your friend is happy, and she simply wants to know the going rate.

I think your friend is doing just fine. It's her choice who she employs, her choice who she leaves her son with (who is NOT grown up and able to be left alone) and if she and her son are happy, the simple answer is around £7 an hour for the eve and day, with £20 for the overnight.

KiKi

kavics17 wrote: »

I do proxy parenting very often, I am in SW London. I charge for the first 4 hours the basic babysitting rate, than £20 for overnight and from the moment the child is awake again the babysitting rate per hour. So from 8p.m till 4 p.m (based that the child wakes at 8) I'd give the lady £25+£20+8x£6.25=£95. I would offer £100 and make sure that there is enough food for her on that day for dinner and lunch the following day.

OP, i'm with you on this one, as long as your friend and her son is happy with the lady, she trusts her 100% and the lady is happy to do the occassional weekend work, I can't see anything wrong. Good luck to her and hope the lady will agree and happy to help her out.

I know that on most of the boards it goes way off topic.
I'm pretty protective of this particular friend as she was widowed young, had already moved away from family & friends for husbands job & didn't want to uproot the lad from school & his new friends to return to her home town.
As most parents everything she does is done with the lad in mind.
I'm glad that I asked the question & didn't suggest her signing on to ask for herself.
She's feeling guilty about taking the job but is in a specialist area & the opportunity without moving away for this type of promotion may not come up again, or not for a very long time.
Thank you for your sensible non judgmental answers.