This seemed rather topical with the six week summer holiday fast approaching for many. Findings based on a poll for Grandparents Plus, Save the Children and The Family and Childcare Trust have brought key issues to light concerning, ‘the considerable contribution that millions of grandparents are making to provide much needed informal childcare and financial support for their grandchildren’. According to the Ipsos Mori poll:
14% of grandparents – or around 1.9 million people say they have reduced working hours, given up a job or taken time off in annual or sick leave to care for a grandchild at some point in their lives.
40% of grandparents who look after their grandchildren say they do so to allow the child’s parents to get to work and 17% do so because parents cannot afford childcare.
64% of grandparents who look after their grandchildren support an entitlement to unpaid leave from work to care for a sick grandchild and 56% support unpaid leave to help parents with childcare.
59% of the wider public support grandparental leave to look after a sick grandchild, and 51% support unpaid leave for childcare.
7 in 10 (69%) grandparents say the financial, practical and caring contribution they make is not recognised.
In addition to these findings Cotton Traders have released some data supporting this. For example:
· A massive 18% of children will be spending this summer with grandparents; greatly outweighing those spending it with other relatives (7%) or in paid (3.5%) or free childcare (1%).
·Nearly a third of parents surveyed (32%) said they have been on holiday with grandparents to help with childcare.
· On average, respondents identified that 1.5 weeks will be spent with grandparents or other relatives throughout the six week holidays.
What is the impact on the recruitment and business industry of nearly 2 million grandparents (who could be as young as me!) reducing their working hours and increasing their spend in order to help bridge the gap caused by the rising cost of childcare and the needs of their own children to build a career.
