In February, app Pay the Nanny estimated the nationwide hourly rate was $29.40 and in Auckland, just over $30. The maximum hourly rate was $50.
Caresies, another app linking babysitters and families, estimated an average hourly rate of $30 to $35.
Tanya Pease from the agency Auckland Babysitters told Checkpoint people were now looking at babysitters in a different light.
“They used to be your 15-year-old next door who would come over and look after the kids while the parents went for dinner,” she said.
“Now, the babysitters are helping with housework, they are helping with teaching, they are helping with pick-ups and drop-offs. They’re definitely another person to the family.”
She said now, the majority of families had both parents working, if they were not a single-parent family.
“I think there’s a lot on people’s plates these days and the nanny or babysitter is just an extra pair of hands to the family,” she said.
Babysitting had become more professional, she said.
“A lot of the agencies in New Zealand now require their team to have a qualification. Whereas in the olden days, it would just be someone that maybe had some experience, whether it be looking after their cousins or friends’ kids,” she said.
“Now they won’t send out anyone unless they are qualified. That’s one reason for the price rise.”
Pease said Auckland Babysitters do police checks and she does three reference checks herself when hiring new staff.
“I make sure all the girls are first-aid certified, all of my girls are over 25 and each and every one of them has at least 10 years’ experience,” she said.
After doing her own research and comparing prices in England and Australia, Pease found both countries average hourly prices were higher than New Zealand.
“In Australia, you’re looking at between $38.15 to $49. In England, it’s $25 to $40 an hour in New Zealand dollars, and I think the reason for this is because the roles are much more in-depth now,” she said.
Many families need an after school nanny, but this is more expensive as the nanny cannot take on a full-time job during the day, she said.
“In order to make it worth their while, they will need to pay a good hourly rate. They’ll be expecting these nannies to take their children to sports, to help them with homework, it is expensive,” she said.
Pease said personally, she did not go out as she could not afford a babysitter at $30 an hour and still go out.
“We have to also remember that these are people’s wages. This isn’t a neighbour who’s got school tomorrow, this is someone that might have a mortgage or have a family to feed,” she said.
“They need to cover the New Zealand prices as well as anybody else.”
She said being a professional babysitter was a different role to getting someone a person knows to look after their children for a period of time.
“I have left my son with a 15-year-old who is a friend of the family so that I can go to the gym and that is fine. It just depends on what you’re wanting from your childcare provider,” she said.
“If you are wanting someone to just come over and hang out with your 7-year-old while you go to the gym that’s fine. If you have twins that are up in the night because they’re not feeding and they’re not sleeping and their mother’s knackered, you’re going to want somebody with some professional experience.”
People were wanting more than just a babysitter to sit at home and watch TV with their children, she said.
“With my agency, they’re all over 25 and very experienced. Also, we have to remember minimum wage is $23 so we can’t be paying these experienced women only $2 more an hour than minimum wage, it’s just not fair.”
