Last updated 05:28, Friday, 20 June 2008

One in 10 Britons are having to help support their parents during retirement.

Helping hands: One in 10 Britons are helping to support their parents in retirement

Around nine per cent of people said their parents were unable to make ends meet on their own and were reliant on them for financial support, according to financial services group Engage Mutual Assurance.

Just over one in five of these people have given money to their parents to help them meet day-to-day living expenses, while 22 per cent make a contribution towards the cost of their parents’ care and 33 per cent said their parents lived with them or another relative.

One in four people with parents aged over 65 said they were concerned about how the family would cover the cost of the parents’ retirement years.

Around 14 per cent worried they could not afford to pay for their parents to go into a care home, while 11 per cent said they could not afford to support them at all.

Another nine per cent worried that their parents did not have enough money to support themselves and eight per cent fret that their parents will spend their inheritance during their retirement.

Only 42 per cent of those questioned thought their parents had enough savings to support themselves, with five per cent expecting them to release equity from their property and six per cent expecting them to downsize.

Karl Elliott, spokesman 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.”