Families really feel they have to reside close to grandparents to get free childcare

On Jun 18, 2024

Typical family receives 468 hours of free childcare a year from grandparents
36% relying on grandparents say they can’t afford further professional childcare
Zoopla says many families are choosing to live near to grandparents for support

Updated: 10:48, 18 June 2024

Families say they feel stuck in a ‘parent trap’ when it comes to where they live with many needing to be close to grandparents in order to get help with childcare, thanks to rising nursery costs.

Half of parents with children under the age of 13, live less than five miles from their nearest grandparent, according to a new study by Zoopla, with seven in 10 being a 30 minute journey away.

Full-time places in nursery now cost as much as £140 per day — the equivalent of £33,700 a year for one child or £2,800 a month.

Paying for childcare in large parts of the UK, could take up more than 50 per cent of a yearly salary, a study by AJ Bell recently found.

Monika Seredynska, 37, who lives in Chislehurst, South-East London, relies on her daughter’s grandparents for childcare

With nursery costs now higher for some than the average monthly mortgage, according to Zoopla, it appears many adults are relying on their child’s grandparents to cut costs.

Zoopla says the average family relies on nine hours of grandparent childcare support a week, equating to 468 hours per year.

With parents estimating they spend £9.90 per hour on childcare – including nursery, babysitting, and summer camps, this is worth £4,633.20 of free childcare annually.

Families feel trapped

Zoopla revealed the flip side is that over half of families who receive childcare support from grandparents say they now feel ‘trapped’ when it comes to where they live.

More than one third of parents who have grandparent support say they could not afford to be without it as professional childcare would be too expensive.

Many are even having to put their own home owning aspirations on hold to get free childcare support.

More than two in five parents feeling trapped would like to move to a larger home, but prices are not affordable in the area they need to remain to get grandparent support, and a quarter say that they would like to move to a different area but can’t as they need to remain near their parents.

Half of UK parents with children under the age of 13 live less than five miles from their nearest grandparent, and 68 per cent live within a 30 minute journey

Some are even being prevented entirely from getting on the housing ladder, with almost a third of those who get grandparent support saying that they would like to buy somewhere but are having to rent in order to stay near to their parents or parents-in-law.

Whilst some put their moving aspirations on hold, others make a conscious decision to move closer to grandparents after having children.

Nearly two in five parents said that, since having children, they had moved closer to grandparents, whilst 11 per cent are currently planning to move.

Daniel Copley, consumer expert at Zoopla, said: ‘As a parent, I know first-hand how expensive childcare can be, and how valuable family support is.

‘As such, many Britons feel that they are trapped when it comes to where they live, with it being vital that grandparents are nearby to help out.

‘This is leaving many in the tricky spot of not being able to afford to buy a place close to their parents, forcing them to rent when they might otherwise be able to get on the housing ladder. Or simply living in an area they don’t really want to live in.’

We fly our parents over from Europe

Monika Seredynska, 37, from Chislehurst, South East London, relies on her daughter’s grandparents for childcare.

Monika’s 11 month-old daughter attends a nursery part-time due to a lack of full-time nursery availability, but they also depend on their parents to help with day-to-day childcare until she can start her full time place in another nursery later this summer.

The problem for Monika is that her and her partner’s parents live in Poland and France.

While it’s relatively simple for Monika’s partner’s mother to travel over via the Eurostar from Paris, her own mother it is a completely different ballgame.

‘She lives in rural Poland so my brother has to drive her to the airport, which takes two hours, and then flies to Stansted, which my partner and I pay for,’ says Monika.

‘She could take the train to the airport but this is much less reliable. Then it takes me two hours to get from Bromley to Stansted to pick her up, and this usually costs me around £60 in travel costs.’

The childcare situation has also had an impact on their living situation.

She says: ‘During the pandemic, to find an affordable home to upsize to that had space for our parents to stay, we chose to move from Croydon for further out of London.

‘We upsized from a two-bed-flat in Croydon to our current two bed and two reception house, in order to make room for our growing family, as upsizing in Croydon would have cost at least £100,000 extra per bedroom than where we live now.

‘We are now undergoing a loft extension to the tune of £100,000, in order to create two additional bedrooms for when our parents come to stay.

‘Otherwise, our daughter currently sleeps in our room when the grandparents stay.’

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