A May report by Grandparents Plus and Age UK showed that grandparents are now providing more childcare. Three hundred thousand more children under 15 were receiving childcare from a grandparent, usually a grandmother, in 2010-11 than in the previous year. Lower and middle income families are more likely to use this option.
An increase in the use of informal care is not surprising. Few parents have seen their wages rise in real terms since the downturn, but the price of childcare has continued to rise above inflation. This has exacerbated existing trends such as the growth of atypical working hours, to which formal childcare has failed to respond adequately. At least one partner in 75 per cent of families on low to middle incomes works outside 8am-6pm. The introduction of Universal Credit will most likely cause more families to turn to informal care. Although it will provide financial support to families using as little as one hour of childcare, it will be difficult to find providers able to offer only a few hours.
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