One in five families couldn’t cope financially without grandparents

One in five families couldn’t cope financially without grandparents providing their services for free according to research by SunLife.

The research showed that more than half of grandparents provide childcare for their grandchildren during the working week, giving up more than four hours a day on average

Not only are grandparents not being paid to provide childcare, but it is actually costing them £80 a week – that’s more than £4k a year 59% say they are more than happy to do it – and don’t mind spending their own money doing so but 12% they can’t really afford the extra expense that comes with it.

With schools set to go back this week, new research reveals that more than half of the UK’s grandparents will be called upon to provide free childcare for their grandchildren – and saving families thousands of pounds a year as a result.

Of those, 68% provide before- and after-school care, 80% are spending an average of 2 hours and 37 minutes a week cooking and providing meals for their grandkids, more than half (56%) do the school run, and 42% chauffeur their grandchildren to clubs and hobbies. Furthermore, 69% are babysitting in the evenings and 63% are called upon if their grandchildren are ill. When you also include the amount of time grandparents spend helping with homework, cleaning up after their grandkids and shopping for essentials, overall, grandparents are spending an average of 22 hours and 19 minutes a week providing their services for free.

The research also found that more than one in three (37%) grandparents are relied upon to look after their grandchildren during the school holidays and on inset days, giving up 16 hours and 32 minutes of their time each week – equivalent to two working days a week. With 14 weeks of school holidays a year, and the average cost of holiday club now £147.83 per week (£29.56 a day), that’s a saving of £827.68 a year – with £354.72 saved over the six-week summer holiday alone.

SunLife’s research has found that, not only are 52% of grandparents providing childcare for free, but the 81% are regularly spending their own money on them. More than two thirds (66%) pay for food and snacks for their grandkids (£24.81 per week), four in ten (40%) pay for materials for activities at home such as crafts or baking (£11.04), while more than half (56%) pay for activities out and about (£28.49).

One in eight (13%) pay for hobbies and clubs (£16.07) and one in five (18%) cover the cost of the kit needed for those hobbies (£81.01), while more than one in four (27%) pay for the transport costs of ferrying their grandchildren around (£32.35). When averaged out, it’s a total of £79.57 a week – more than £4k a year. For grandchildren aged 1–3 this average is even more, rising to £113.91.  While most (59%) say they are more than happy to do it – and don’t mind spending their own money doing so – 12% say that they love doing it but can’t really afford the extra expense that comes with it.

One in five (19%) grandparents say their grand kids parents would not cope financially without their help with just 4% resent giving their time for free.

A spokesperson from SunLife, said “Grandparents are often real heroes in a family, spending hours helping with childcare and offering practical and emotional support and saving parents thousands in childcare costs. “Our research suggests grandparents are saving their grandkids’ parents around £250 a week in childcare costs on average, so it’s no wonder one in five grandparents say their grandkid’s parents would struggle financially without their help. And as we might expect, the research shows that most grandparents are very happy to offer the level of support they do to help their children (and getting to spend more time with their grandchildren as a result).”

How many hours a week would you say you spend doing the following?	% of grandparents that offer support	Average hrs/wk
Cooking/providing meals	80%	2.62
Cleaning up after grandchildren (e.g. cleaning the home after a messy activity such as baking or painting, or tidying away toys)	76%	2.31
Babysitting in the evening	69%	3.34
Before or after school care	68%	3.57
Looking after your grandchildren when they’re ill/unexpectedly off school	63%	3.56
School run	56%	1.65
Taking/picking up from clubs/hobbies	42%	1.12
Helping with homework	40%	1.10
Shopping for essentials (e.g. school uniform, books, equipment for sports, crafts, or hobbies)	38%	0.95
Volunteering at school/hobbies/clubs	18%	0.57
Other	25%	1.56
Any childcare	100%	22.32