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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| The changing availability of grandparents as carers and its implications for childcare policy in the UK | | Author(s) | Anne Gray |
| Journal title | Journal of Social Policy, vol 34, no 4, October 2005 |
| Pages | pp 557-578 |
| Source | http://www.journals.cambridge.org |
| Keywords | Grandparents as carers ; Family care ; Grandchildren ; Social policy ; Longitudinal surveys. |
| Annotation | The role of grandparents as providers of childcare for their grandchildren is considered, also the importance of this role in helping the mother to enter the labour market. Several childcare surveys indicate that grandparents make a very important contribution, which appears to be sustained over time. Demographic modelling shows that the chances of young children having a maternal grandmother aged under 70 have risen since 1981, although she is less likely to live nearby. New evidence from the UK Time Use Survey suggests that grandparents' help has an important influence on whether mothers of young children do take employment, especially those with lower earning potential. This help also enables them to work longer hours and earn more. However, employed older women play a considerably smaller role in childcare in other households than those without jobs. Analysis of childcare trends from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) suggests that help from relatives, of whom the biggest category are known from several other sources to be grandparents, has become an important complement to part-time formal care as pre-school places have expanded since the late 1990s. Raising employment rates for the over 50s is an established objective of government policy, yet it may conflict with younger grandparents' childcare roles. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-051118209 A |
| Classmark | P6:SW: P6:SJ: SW5: TM2: 3J |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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