Grandparent childcarers risk poverty

Protect, Support, Provide, by Grandparents Plus and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), found grandparents in families most at risk of poverty are under increasing pressure to take on a caring role.

It says one in three families rely on grandparental childcare each week, with working class grandmothers who are still of working age most likely to be providing childcare and to have given up work or reduced their hours for it.

The report says Government moves to put lone parents into work conflict with the employment rate of older people as they reach retirement. It warns this could undermine attempts to reduce poverty.

The report calls for the financial, emotional and practical support given by grandparents in low-income families to be factored into public policy.

Grandparents Plus recommends that parents pay grandparents for childcare through tax credits and childcare vouchers, and that the right to request flexible working be extended to all.

The charity wants children's centres to actively promote services to grandparents, particularly for black and ethnic minority grandparents and those caring for a disabled grandchild.

Sam Smethers, chief executive of Grandparents Plus, said, 'Some children's centres could do more to promote services to grandparents and engage them. Studies have shown that children brought up by a grandparent are less likely to be "school-ready", as they don't have the same opportunities for interaction. Children's centres need to look at the whole picture and make sure they offer a flexible approach and try different strategies in order to reach grandparents.'

The EHRC is calling for Jobcentre Plus advisors to look at employment implications for the wider family if one member will be relying on grandparental care in order to return to work. It wants older workers' return-towork initiatives to consider the impact of provision of grandparental care on the wider family and for the default retirement age to be removed.

Daycare Trust said they were 'largely supportive' of the report.

Chief executive Alison Garnham said, 'Affordable, flexible, childcare is at the heart of what Daycare Trust campaigns for and we realise that it is not yet readily available to all, particularly to families at risk of poverty and those with disabled children. We want children to be guaranteed this, alongside any informal family care they may be receiving. We thoroughly endorse the call by Grandparents Plus for more affordable, high quality childcare to suit the needs of families.'

Flexible working for families would be 'practical and effective' and it was 'absolutely right' that children's centres should be key to supporting families, she added.

But Ms Garnham said it was unlikely, given the pressure on public finances, that the Government would be able to fund both tax credits for grandparents and investment in the childcare sector, and that 'sector-wide investment must take priority.'