Elderly parents ‘adding to financial strain’

Elderly parents are adding the financial strain for almost 1.7 million adults around the UK, a new report has suggested.

With millions of people already facing debt management difficulties, close to one in ten are using their own cash to help their parents, according to Engage Mutual Assurance.

Often the money is needed by pensioners to pay for their everyday expenses, while many thousands of consumers are dipping into their pockets to cover the cost of care for theiri elderly parents.

“As costs of living increase, retirees are finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet,” said Karl Elliott from Engage Mutual Assurance.

“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.”

A report from Key Retirement Solutions recently revealed that an increasing number of Britons aged over 55 are approaching pension age with a sizable debt management burden.

Written by Giles Stevenson