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Do grandparents deserve a fairer deal?
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One of Britain's most senior family lawyers, Baroness Deech, has called for more recognition of the part grandparents play in providing unpaid childcare for working parents.
In a lecture on Family Law at Gresham College in London, the Baroness claimed that grandparents – who may need to work themselves – feel obliged to help their own children with childcare.
She said: "This places particular burdens on grandparents who may need to work themselves but feel obliged to help out the younger generation."
She pointed out that grandparents are "assuming burdens" which prevent them from earning a living and which they are rarely compensated for. She then controversially called for parents to have an obligation to keep their own parents in old age in return for the care given both to themselves in the past and to the grandchildren in the family.
A report by the charity Grandparents Plus published in March 2009 called for grandparents who care for grandchildren to be paid tax credits or, if they are still working, to be given 'granny leave'.
The charity's survey showed that two thirds of people polled agreed that the government should pay grandparents for providing childcare. And three quarters said that grandparents who could be working but are providing unpaid childcare instead should get credit towards their state pension.
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Paul Hicks
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08/02/2010
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