Should grandparents get credit for their help?

But with the rise of the recession and the demands on working parents, granny and granddad are in many cases no longer the Saturday night standbys – they are lifelines and full-time nursery nurses.

Now a leading charity has called for extra state funding and time off work for grandparents as the credit crunch increases the call on them to provide childcare and other support.

Working older relatives should receive National Insurance credits for time spent looking after youngsters and be entitled to two weeks’ “granny leave” in a newborn’s first year, Grandparents Plus suggested.

Childcare Tax Credit should also be payable to parents whose own mothers and fathers looked after the children to enable them to go back to work, it said in a new report. The proposals were backed by the public in an opinion poll which also showed growing demands on grandparents to help out as the recession bites.

A majority of parents (55 per cent) aged 18 to 34 told YouGov they were more likely to call on them to help with childcare with a third of all parents also expecting to seek financial help from the older generation.

Most people (61 per cent) agreed that grandparents should be rewarded by the state for that work and 75 per cent backed extending to them pension credits due to be paid to parents and some carers of pre-teens from next year.

Employers, 55 per cent said, should also extend the option of flexible working to grandparents.

Sam Smethers, the chief executive of Grandparents Plus, said: “We believe that the existing policy focusing on the nuclear family means we miss what is really going on.

“Four in ten parents say they are increasingly likely to ask grandparents for help with childcare during the recession. In the tough economic climate, it is families who are taking the hit.

“Grandparents are playing an ever-increasing role in supporting family life and caring for children, but their contribution often goes unrecognised.

“Our poll shows that the general public appreciates the important role that grandparents play, but most people do not think the Government values this highly enough.

“It is time to recognise the contribution grandparents make.”

At Home To Home Nursery, in Strensall, York, senior nursery manager Liza Haigh agreed that grandparents should finally have some official reward.

She said: “As a mother myself who uses her grandparents I think they should be given something. While we haven’t lost any children at the nursery, we do see at least 40 per cent of parents trying to strike a balance between nursery care and using their grandparents.

“We also have some children who come to us in the morning and then are picked up by their grandparents.

“I do think it would be nice for grandparents to have something. Society has changed from them simply being baby-sitting. More and more families rely on them.”

But Children’s Minister Beverley Hughes disagrees. She said: “Government intervention in informal childcare arrangements made between family members would be going too far.

“We would not wish to disturb family arrangements by encouraging charging between family members who would not otherwise have done so.

“And we believe that many people using relatives for childcare would not welcome such interference either. Research shows that, in general, most grandparents do not want to be paid for the care they provide.

“We are committed to doing more to value and support family childcare providers – including grandparents – and will hold a series of regional events this year to discuss the issues faced by family childcare providers, including employment leave to provide care.”

Shadow families minister Maria Miller said: “Gordon Brown keeps telling us that the state has more of a role to play in helping people through the recession, but this report clearly shows that it is often families that we turn to first for support and guidance during tough times.

“Grandparents often play a critical role in providing the flexible childcare, emotional support and financial help that families need.”

YouGov sampled 2,270 adults (including 1,431 parents) online between February 10 and 12.

Across the generations

PUPILS at a school near York took their grandmas and grandads to school with them as part of a specially-arranged Grandparent’s Day.

Youngsters at Warthill CE Primary School spent the morning showing their grandparents around their school and a “sharing” assembly was held to celebrate the children’s work and achievements.

The children and their grandparents later shared refreshments and enjoyed stories.

Janet Wardell, the head teacher, said the day was particularly nice for one granddad, Roy Charlesworth, who had attended the school during the Second World War.

Janet said: “The school managed to find the handwritten log from between 1939 and 1942 which listed his name and we were able to give him a copy. The children found that very interesting.”

Warthill School has 35 pupils aged between four and 11 years.

Mrs Wardell said: “The day was very nice; everybody enjoyed themselves, both child and grandparent.”