Charity bid for paid 'granny leave'

Working older relatives should receive National Insurance credits for time spent looking after youngsters and be entitled to two weeks' "granny leave" in a newborn's first year, Grandparents Plus suggested.

Childcare Tax Credit should also be payable to parents whose own mothers and fathers looked after the children to enable them to go back to work, it said in a new report.

The proposals were backed by the public in an opinion poll which also showed growing demands on grandparents to help out as the recession bites.

A majority of parents (55%) aged 18 to 34 told YouGov they were more likely to call on them to help with childcare with a third of all parents also expecting to seek financial help from the older generation.

Most people (61%) agreed that grandparents should be rewarded by the state for that work and 75% backed extending to them pension credits due to be paid to parents and some carers of pre-teens from next year.

Employers, 55% said, should also extend the option of flexible working to grandparents.

Grandparents Plus chief executive Sam Smethers said: "We believe that the existing policy focus on the nuclear family means we miss what is really going on. Four in 10 parents say they are increasingly likely to ask grandparents for help with childcare during the recession. In the tough economic climate it is families who are taking the hit.

"Grandparents are playing an ever-increasing role in supporting family life and caring for children but their contribution often goes unrecognised. Our poll shows that the general public appreciates the important role that grandparents play but most people do not think the Government values this highly enough.It is time to recognise the contribution grandparents make."

Children's Minister Beverley Hughes said most grandparents did not want to be financially rewarded for their contribution to childcare but the Government wants to find ways to do more to value and support their efforts.