How to Make Money as a Babysitter in the UK

Childcare is a big occupation in the UK as many parents have tight schedules. While babysitting is often viewed as a teenagers thing, it’s a viable method for a University student to make money. Babysitting can also give your career the much-needed lift as you’ll gain a vast range of virtues, including patience, problem-solving and multitasking.

This guide has all the information you need to know about babysitting, including how to become a babysitter, how much you should charge for babysitting and tips to be a good babysitter and make good money with this occupation in the UK.

How to Become a Babysitter in the UK?

Generally, there’re always people looking for babysitters; the problem comes when you’re new to a location or to the occupation altogether as people will barely trust you. However, you can still get into babysitting despite the challenges when starting out. Here’s how:

Get online and advertise yourself- You can create a personal website or just use your social account to tell people who you are. Include your experience, references and CV in the briefs.

Reach out to people you know- Instead of searching for a babysitting job from strangers who will find a hard time trusting you, go to people you know. Once you secure your first few jobs, start building on your skills and CV so that you’ll have a smooth time babysitting thereafter.

Get a DBS check- If you feel that you’ve done enough on building your experience, you can get a DBS check as it’s a great tool to show the parents that you’re up to the babysitting task. Delegate £23 for the check and once you get the certification, it’ll be pretty simple to get your next job.

Have business cards- Create business cards with a link to your online profile that you can give to people when you visit schools, parks and any other place where there’re parents or potential parents.

How Much Should you Charge Per Hour for Babysitting?

The amount you charge for babysitting depends on three main factors:

Your experience: If you’ve been in the occupation for a decent period, you’ll have mastered what it takes to care for children. You should charge more with experience and definitely relatively less when you’re starting out.

Location: Some places in the UK will earn you more for babysitting than others. You’ll, for example, charge more for babysitting in London than you’d do in Midlands.

Responsibilities: The duties you’ll handle should be directly proportional to the amount you’ll charge.

This said, babysitting in the UK should fetch you around £7-£10 per hour. If working in cities such as London, the rate can stretch up to £12 per hour.

Never settle for a deal that you don’t deserve. Some parents and/or guardians can be exploitative, so knowing your worth can help you avoid such instances.

How to Make More Money as a Babysitter…

Want to make good money babysitting? Consider these ideas:

Work during ‘odd’ hours: If you work for regular daytime hours and during weekdays, you’ll just earn the basic rates. However, if you’re focused on earning good money, you can babysit overnight or during weekends. Since standard hourly rates may not apply for these hours, agree on a fixed price prior to babysitting.

Be available: While you may agree to work for specific hours, there’re cases where emergencies emerge and the parents want someone to look after the babies. Availing yourself in such instances will strengthen the bond with the parents and you may end up going home with decent tips.

Couple babysitting with tutoring: If you’re good at a particular subject that the baby you babysit takes, you can offer tutoring services as a way of increasing your pay. Agree with the parents to know the appropriate rate for both of you to babysit while tutoring.

Offer babysitting services at parties/ events: If you got the time, why not babysit during birthdays or when the parents have family gatherings/important events such as weddings to attend? It’s a brilliant way to make more money. In an event with many kids, look after all of them and you may end up landing more babysitting deals.

Always ask for other benefits: Don’t shy of asking for dinner if you’re babysitting during dinner time, or travel expenses if you’ll board a pricey tax back home. These small things add up to saving your basic babysitting pay.

Tips to be Good Babysitter…

In most instances, what you deliver overall when babysitting will determine the pay you’ll get. You should therefore start working on refining your skills and behaving appropriately before getting into babysitting. Here are some tips to help you achieve this:

Be reliable: When you’re not ready for babysitting, tell the parents just that. It’s pretty inconvenient to promise that you’ll show up for a babysitting session then fail on your promises. Only commit to what you can deliver and you’ll have a very smooth time working as a babysitter.

Brief the parents when they get home: Inform the parents what happened during the babysitting session. Sharing the experiences will impress the parents and they’ll know that you love what you’re doing. This way you’ll have earned their trust and it easier to even get better pay.

Keep the house tidy: When the baby takes a nap, use the time to tidy up the house and clear any mess that you’ve added to the space. Welcoming the parents with a clean and tidy house is always a nice gesture that’ll always earn you a good place in their heart.

Final thoughts

Babysitting is one of the fun and easy jobs you can do as a student and the returns/skills gained from the job can push you to greater heights in your career. While it may be challenging to secure your first job, once you’re in it, you’ll master everything that’s required and deals will be following you thereafter. Just do your best to establish and maintain a good relationship with the parents you work for and babysitting will be the best thing you’ll engage in on your way up the success ladder.