With childcare costs soaring, many families are increasingly turning to grandparents for help. According to the Family and Childcare Trust, sending a child under two to nursery part-time (25 hours) now costs £115.45 a week, or £6,003 a year – a 5.1% rise since 2014. In London, the figure is even higher.
Jill Rutter of the trust said: “It is beyond the reach of many families, which is why parents are reaching out to grandparents in a bid to make childcare more affordable.” Insurer RIAS estimates that grandparents spend an average of nine hours a week looking after grandchildren, saving parents £1,902 a year in childcare fees.
David Finch, senior economic analyst at the Resolution Foundation, noted that formal childcare can be prohibitively expensive for low-to-middle income families, sometimes acting as a disincentive to work. “The extra nursery hours needed when working more can leave them keeping just six pence of every additional pound earned,” he said.
Dr Lucy Peake of Grandparents Plus described grandparents as “throwing a lifeline to families squeezed by falling incomes and rising childcare costs”. However, Caroline Abrahams of Age UK warned of the physical toll: “Looking after young children can be exhausting. It’s important that grandparents are comfortable with the demands placed on them.”
In October, the government announced plans to extend shared parental leave to working grandparents, allowing parents to share up to 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of pay – currently £139.58 a week – with a nominated grandparent. Recent research from Ipsos Mori found that almost two million grandparents have reduced work hours or taken time off to care for grandchildren.
Despite this, campaigners argue the plans do not go far enough. Dr Peake added: “Giving grandparents the right to flexible working and entitlement to leave to care for grandchildren as they grow up would make a huge difference to families and the economy.”
