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More than 1.7m Brits help parents with retirement costs

12/06/2008

More than 1.7 million British adults are helping with the costs of their parents' retirement, putting strains on family life, a survey has found.

Research from Engage Mutual Assurance has revealed nearly one in ten (nine per cent) British adults is helping with the costs of their parents' retirement.

Of these, 22 per cent have given money to their parents to help them to make ends meet on day-to-day expenses; 22 per cent are paying towards their parents' care, and 33 per cent have taken their parents into their or a relative's home in order to reduce their costs of living and care.

In addition, three percent of adults with parents over 65 (more than half a million) have brought their parents to live with them or relatives to cover the costs of their retirement.

Karl Elliott, spokesperson for Engage Mutual Assurance said: "As costs of living increase, retirees are finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet.

"In hard times people often turn to family members for support and, as our research shows, this is the case for elderly relatives as well as young adults who are finding it increasingly difficult to disconnect themselves financially from their parents."

The cost of paying for retirement is taking its toll on Britons. Of all adults with parents over 65, 14 per cent say that they are worried that they cannot afford to pay for their parents to go into a care home and eight per cent worry that their parents will spend all of their inheritance to fund their retirement.

"With the size of Britain's retired population growing, and costs of living increasing, it is important that people save little and often towards their retirement in order to reduce the pressure on themselves and their family to make ends meet in old age," Mr Elliott advised.