One fifth of the UK’s grandparents will be joining family trips this summer, marking a continuation of the ‘three-generationalholidaying trend, new research from Over 50s insurance provider RIAS reveals today.
The RIAS ‘Summer Holiday Helpersstudy, now in its second year, highlights that a fifth (20%) of grandparents, equivalent to 2.5 million grandmas and grandads across the UK, say they regularly holiday with their children and their grandchildren for the sole purpose of providing childcare assistance2.
These holiday ‘nanniesare the sign of a growing trend that sees families holidaying in larger groups, increasing the amount of quality family time they spend together, but also to help parents take a well-earned break themselves by sharing the childcare responsibilities.
Janet Connor, Managing Director at RIAS, comments: “Our ‘Summer Holiday Helpersstudy shows that the three generational holiday is here to stay and is firmly on the family holidaying agenda. This is encouraging because a break away is a great opportunity for grandparents to spend quality time with their grandchildren, deepening their bond.
“As parents feel more pressure to put longer hours in at work and cut costs at home, grandparents are increasingly stepping in when childcare is needed they are truly family saviours. And with holidays providing a welcome break for everyone, taking an insurance policy with End Supplier Failure cover included as standard means that families get complete protection and peace of mind.
Flying solo grandparents in charge
New for this year the research also found that over a quarter of grandparents (26%), equivalent to 3.2m grandparents, even take their grandchildren on holiday without their parents. This is a welcome break for frazzled mums and dads, and provides vital bonding time for the oldest and youngest generations of the family. However, while parents seem trusting enough to let their children holiday without the, worryingly almost one third (28%) of grandparents claim that they don’t take out any form of travel insurance while travelling with their grandchildren. Four out of ten (41%) rely on the children’s parents to sort out this important aspect of the holiday.
Home from home at grandma’s
When they’re not escorting younger relatives and their tired parents on holiday, just over half (54%) of the UK’s grandparents who provide childcare for their grandchildren over the summer holidays do so in their own home, meaning that it is fast becoming a ‘holiday homefor many children.
Even when they’re at home, half of grandparents (45%) claim they are increasingly called on to provide childcare duties during the school summer holidays in July and August. For a third of these grandparents (30%), they’re providing childcare for at least half of the time of the entire school holiday period. The main reasons are that parents have had to return to work because of the economic climate (28% of childcare providing-grandparents agree with this) and seem to be working ever longer hours (27% agree), and that formal childcare (such as nurseries) has become too expensive (20% agree).
Janet Connor concludes: “With grandparents becoming a key part of the family summer holiday, it is vital they have adequate travel insurance cover should something unexpected happen, and that any children they’re travelling with are covered too. When grandparents have got their hands full building sandcastles and entertaining the youngsters, the last thing they need is worry, so policies need to be checked and extended to cover the children if necessary.
Just in time for the summer break, RIAS has enhanced its travel insurance policy with a ‘kids go freefeature, meaning that children up to the age of 24 years old and in full-time education are fully covered by their parentsor grandparentsRIAS Travel Insurance policy when holidaying together.
For more information about RIAS Travel Insurance, which includes End Supplier Failure as standard, as well as the full product range, visit wwwrias.co.uk. RIAS is also sponsoring the Yours Grandparent of the Year Awards 2011 - for more information and to enter visit wwwyours.co.uk/grandparentoftheyear2011.
For further information, please contact:
Claire Wood or Alex Kennedy at Seventy Seven PR on 020 7492 0977 or email rias(at)77pr(dot)co(dot)uk
Alternatively, contact Lucy Pope, Consumer Communications Manager, RIAS on 01202 254445 or email lpope(dot)rias(dot)co(dot)uk or Blair Catchpole, Consumer Communications Executive, Fortis on 01202 254489 or email Blair.Catchpole(at)fortis-uk(dot)com
Notes to Editors
1 Research commissioned by RIAS and carried out by Opinium between 27th to 29th June 2011. Total sample size was 2,135 grandparents aged over 50 with at least one grandchild. The survey was carried out online.
2 There are 12.4m over 50s grandparents in the UK (source: Opinium Research, 2011).
Key features of RIASTravel Insurance policy include:
RIAS Travel Insurance is underwritten by Europ Assistance Holding Irish Branch, who are regulated by the Autorit&233; de contr&244;le prudentiel (ACP), the French Regulator. The insurance is administered by Europ Assistance Holdings Ltd (which also provides all assistance services), who are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).
About RIAS
RIAS was established in 1992 and is a specialist award-winning provider of insurance products for the over 50s age group.
Part of Ageas (Insurance UK) Limited, RIAS has nearly a million motor, home and travel insurance customers and employs over 1,100 people across two UK sites. RIAS negotiates with a panel of insurers to secure competitive, value for money products.
Ageas UK is a leading provider of award-winning Personal, Commercial and Protection insurance solutions in the UK. Ageas UK distributes both its Non-Life and Life products through a range of channels including brokers, IFAs, intermediaries, affinity partners and the Internet, as well as through its retail strategy via its wholly or partially-owned companies (Ageas Insurance Solutions, Ageas Protect, Castle Cover, Kwik Fit Insurance Services, RIAS, Tesco Underwriting and Text2Insure).
Insuring around 8 million customers and working with a range of partners, Ageas is recognised for delivering consistent and high-quality customer experiences. It employs over 4,500 people with a head office based in Eastleigh and others based in Belfast, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Glasgow, Gloucester, London, Reigate and Stoke-on-Trent.
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