New research conducted by MORI for Norwich Union Equity Release shows how good-natured grandparents help hard-working families save money every year by providing free help around the home.
Millions of grandparents act as unpaid home helps
New research conducted by MORI for Norwich Union Equity Release shows how good-natured grandparents help hard-working families save money every year by providing free help around the home.
With both parents in many families working full time, older family members are providing a significant level of support with 79% of families relying on them for help with DIY, childcare and cooking meals. That's 6.7 million grandparents* saving families thousands of pounds each year in home help costs.
The survey showed that:
- More than a third (39%) of grandparents regularly help with childcare
- Almost half (49%) help with occasional babysitting
- Nearly a quarter (23%) regularly do the school run
- 43% of older people cook occasional meals for the family
- More than a third (36%) help with DIY
- More than a quarter (26%) help with the gardening
- Nearly one in five (18%) give driving lessons
- Nearly one third (30%) provide financial advice to their families
Grandparents who look after their grandchildren during the school holidays help parents save a small fortune and remove the hassle of finding good-quality childcare. A typical family working full-time with two children would spend about Ł2,064** a year on holiday childcare.
This help is not just restricted to an occasional night of babysitting. More than half of grandparents who help out do so more than once a week: nearly a quarter (24%) do so several times a week and 9% on a daily basis. This is in addition to the 23% of grandparents who regularly do the school run.
Mark Kelly, director of Norwich Union Personal Finance, said: "With many parents working longer hours and facing long commutes to work, there is an increasing reliance on outside support but this can be expensive and difficult to organise. This is resulting in an increasing pressure on the wider family to provide help, with grandparents providing much of this support. Instead of paying substantial sums for a nanny or childcare centre, parents would prefer to lean on grandma and grand-dad to look after the kids in the comfort of their own home."
The Norwich Union Equity Release research also shows that older family members are providing essential help around the home. For example, more than four in ten (43%) provide help by cooking an occasional family meal, and almost a third (30%) play the role of financial adviser to their families.
Mark Kelly concludes: "It's clear that many families rely on the help of grandparents, but with an increasing number of grandparents forced to work into retirement, this valuable source of help may not be as readily available in the future."
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Notes to Editors
Research conducted by MORI, 11 - 25 March 2004. 300 people aged 21-55 with parents and 300 people aged over 55 with children surveyed in face-to-face interviews. The population figures used are based on all homeowners aged 55+, which is 10.5 million.
* According to MORI there are 9.4 million people in the UK aged 55+ with children. 79% of families rely on older people to help out with babysitting, school runs, DIY, gardening and meals. Based on ONS statistics, which show that 90% of this age group are grandparents, this equates to 6.7 million grandparents/families acting as unpaid home helps.
** According to Daycare Trust, the national average weekly cost of a place for one child in a summer play scheme is Ł73.71 per week - 6 July 2004. Based on this information, and the assumption there are 14 holiday weeks during the year and two children per family, the annual cost saving for parents who use grandparents to do babysitting is Ł2,064 (Ł73.71 x 2 x 14).
- Norwich Union is the UK's largest insurer. It is the UK's largest provider of life, pensions and investment products and one of the leading IFA providers. IFAs provide around 75% of the company's long-term savings business in the UK.
- Norwich Union has strategic alliances with building societies and other leading UK brand names including Tesco Personal Finance and The Royal Bank of Scotland Group.
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- Norwich Union Equity Release Limited No 3286484. Registered at 2 Rougier Street, York, YO90 1UU