Grandparents' Contribution Vital in an Increasingly Ageing Society

Older people should no longer be seen as dependent on the state but rather as active participants in society said Mr Duncan Smith in a speech he recently gave at the Michael Young Memorial Lecture Theatre. In an increasingly ageing society the dynamics between young and old are rapidly changing so that we need to rethink attitudes to older members.

The point made by Mr Duncan Smith is that stereotypical views of older people need to be challenged, and economically we can't afford to use the language of dependency when speaking about older people. For example, it is patronising to regard someone of 60 or 65 as "past it" and to force them to retire at that age. Subsequently the default retirement age has been "consigned to the dustbin of historical discrimination" and over 60s are increasingly working for longer.

Mr Duncan Smith also praised and acknowledged the vital part grandparents play in caring for their grandchildren to enable parents to work. He commented that many of the jobs that older people undertake in general "would otherwise fall on the state". It is important that the state supports and acknowledges the role held by the wider family, especially grandparents, in the upbringing of children, particularly important in this era of growing family breakdown and atomisation of society where the support of older members in the extended family is vital.

The state needs to do more in recognising the important jobs carried out by grandparents and to that end has brought in "Grandparents' credits" for those with the care of young children and therefore not in work, so that if they are below pension age they can start to build up credits for their pensions. This serves to recognise the important and special role played by grandparents in their grandchildren's lives.

Crucially, Mr Duncan Smith spoke of the conditionality regime in the benefits system whereby grandparent kinship carers, in line with biological parents, have to do a full time work search in order to qualify for benefits. He said that the job centre has a duty to look at all claims on a case-by-case basis and it does have the power not to impose this on carers of younger children.

Hopefully, this is only the beginning of some easing up of conditions for grandparent kinship carers as the Secretary of State intimated he is ready to listen to people's stances on this and there are ongoing discussions with kinship groups including Grandparents Plus.

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