Future of an Ageing Population

Future of an Ageing Population | A Central Role for Families
5.5 The impact of an ageing population on inter-generational
caring responsibilities in families
The increasing value of grandparent care and the growing demand for unpaid
care both point towards the growing importance of the relationships between
generations 148 . It is important to fully understand these inter-generational
dependencies. For example, evidence from the European Social Survey
suggests that the need to provide grandchild care might encourage older
workers to leave the labour force before the official retirement age. It found
that just over 50% of grandmothers had retired before reaching the age of 60,
compared to 37% of women without grandchildren (the difference among men
was smaller at 27% compared to 23%) 149 . However, evidence throughout this
report shows that older people are also more likely to be working, reskilling,
paying mortgages/rents and even caring for older parents who are still alive.
These effects are likely to be transmitted from one generation to the next.
Caring for an elderly family member in mid-life can impact upon an individual’s
earning capacity. Career interruptions or part-time work due to child or elder
care currently reduce pension entitlements with consequences for income
in later life. The provision of care is a significant factor in withdrawing from
the labour market, and family carers can experience detrimental effects on
their health, particularly when little support is available, and particularly in
later life 150 . Some grandparents who raise their own grandchildren also report
experiences of isolation, discrimination (seen as too old to care) and a lack of
support (financial and practical) 151 .
While these inter-generational impacts can affect all individuals of all ages,
there are certain ‘at risk’ groups. The current generation of 50-70 year olds
are sometimes referred to as the ‘sandwich’ generation, squeezed between
competing demands, caring for their own parents 152 and their children or
grandchildren. As noted above, daughters across all age groups tend to be
more heavily involved than sons in providing support to ageing parents, with
implications for stress, ill-health, employment, earnings and pension provision
in their own later life. Generally the impacts of caregiving fall predominantly to
women, although men are playing an increasing role 35 . There are differences in
the strength and structure of family support networks across different ethnic
groups. Compared to the White ethnic groupings, women are more likely to
provide family care in Bangladeshi, Indian and Pakistani minorities, even when
controlling for age, sex or socio-economic background 153 .
In summary, it is likely to be important to examine the ways in which caring
responsibilities for the young and the old have been allocated in existing
policies. It may be ultimately ineffective to separate care and financial policies
into those pertaining to children and those to older dependent adults, as that
P74