Rise in older people caring for their parents – Prof Debora Price comments in The Guardian

5 October 2016

Many of the oldest old in the UK are being cared for by their children who themselves are older people, reports The Guardian.

MICRA Director Professor Debora Price, commenting in The Guardian, said, “This phenomenon is likely to grow, and as these carers age they also become more likely to have a spouse who may need care, or to start to encounter health problems themselves.

As the number of individuals living to a ninety and hundred in the UK increases, their older children are facing growing financial and family pressures. Rises in the state pension age and the government’s extending working lives agenda encourage older carers to stay in the paid workforce. “They are also expected to – and do – care for their grandchildren”, says Debora Price. Grandparenting in Europe, a 2013 report co-authored by Prof Price, showed that eight out of 10 grandmothers in England with a grandchild under 16 provide childcare.

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