Londoners back more support for grandparent carers

People in London are in favour of better financial and practical help for grandparents raising children because their parents can’t look after them, according to a new poll commissioned by charities Grandparents Plus, the Family and Parenting Institute and Family Lives.

The poll found that:

• Around 70% of adults in London think grandparents and other relatives bringing up a child should receive practical help from their local council,
• 58% think they should receive a financial allowance,
• 69% think grandparents should get a financial allowance if they are on a low income, and
• 71% think they should receive similar support to foster carers.

Evidence from Grandparents Plus research ‘Giving up the day job?’ published last year found that 47% of kinship carers give up work when they take on the care of a child. As a result 41% are then dependent on welfare benefits. Around 60,000 have dropped out of the labour market, equivalent to at least 9,000 a year.

The survey also found that:

• 13% of kinship carers are raising three or more children who are not their own,
• 27% are raising two children who are not their own, and
• 14% also have children of their own under the age of 18 living with them.