Charity warns of ‘care gap’ crisis as grandmothers providing childcare required to stay in work longer

Tuesday, 06 December 2011

Nearly two thirds (63%) of grandparents with grandchildren under 16 are providing childcare, (around 7 million in total), often to enable parents to work, with one in five (19%) of grandmothers providing at least 10 hours a week and half (50%) of mothers relying on grandparents to look after their babies when they return from maternity leave – according to new analysis from the charity Grandparents Plus.

But with the state pension age set to rise, increasing numbers of grandmothers will be expected to stay in work until they reach 65 years old or older, warns the charity. They will have to juggle work and care, with the extra pressure of an ageing population likely to increase the number of older relatives needing help.

The new analysis, brought together in the Grandparents Plus report, Doing it all?, compares British Social Attitudes Survey Data in 1998 and 2009 and shows that:

Young grandmothers aged under 50, are the most likely to provide childcare , but overall most childcare is provided by grandmothers aged 55 to 64, the very group who in future will have to stay in work longer, followed by grandparents aged and 65 to 74.

Most grandmothers who provide childcare are retired or not working, but working grandparents (both grandmothers and grandfathers) are more likely to say they provide care, reflecting the fact that there are many more grandparents who are retired or not working than those who are still working.

Grandparents Plus says that although the extra money that the Government has announced for nursery places for two year olds and to help with childcare for people working less than 16 hours a week is welcome, the cut in childcare tax credit implemented in April still means that many families are facing an extra £500 a year in childcare costs.

Denise Murphy, interim Chief Executive at Grandparents Plus said:

“With childcare costs soaring, many parents are becoming increasingly dependent on grandparents to look after children so they can go to work. But we think one of the consequences of the raising of the state pension age may be more mothers giving up work because grandmothers are no longer available to provide childcare.

“Take London as an example – where childcare costs are highest, and fewer families have grandparents they can turn to for help. Here, proportionately fewer women are in work than elsewhere in the UK and there are some of the highest rates of child poverty in the UK.”

The analysis also shows that:

Eight in ten (78%) women aged over 75 in Britain are grandmas (compared to seven in ten (68%) in 1998).

45% of grandmothers are living alone (compared to 38% in 1998).
Four in ten (39%) of grandmothers are relying on the state pension compared to 25% of grandfathers.

60% of grandmothers who look after their grandchildren are aged under 65.
Denise Murphy says the findings provide a stark warning to policy makers about the need to support both childcare and eldercare. She said:

“As the UK’s population ages, there is growing pressure on grandparents go out to work as well as provide care for their grandchildren and often elderly relatives as well. As older people remain longer in the workplace, there is a risk of a serious ‘care gap’ emerging in the provision of informal care for children and older people.

“And for those grandmothers who are forced to leave the workplace to take on caring roles, the increase in the number who are living without a partner places them in a vulnerable position, particularly with welfare reforms being brought in.”

Grandparents Plus is calling for:

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Click here to go to the Grandparents Plus website