ROOF Blog

Nearly one in ten over-70s are still paying to support their children, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said yesterday. Hundreds of thousands of elderly people are bearing the financial burden of a family despite having had to retire in their sixties. The findings reflect the rising ‘boomerang generation’ of twentysomethings returning to the family home to rely on their parents after leaving university, as well as the increasing age at which many couples are having children. On top of this, a quarter of grandparents are paying towards the upbringing of their children’s children, other figures have shown.

An elderly couple were allowed to die in their freezing home after neighbours’ pleas to authorities for help were ignored, it has been claimed. Jean and Derek Randall were found dead in their home in Northampton by police as Britain was gripped by the coldest winter in 30 years. Sally Keeble, the pensioners’ MP, has now called for an inquiry claiming ‘major failures’ led to the couple being neglected by care workers. Mr Randall, 76, had been trying to get his wife, 79, into a care home after realising that his own flagging health left him incapable of caring for her. Neighbours claimed they repeatedly contacted the county council, NHS staff and charities for over a month about the couple’s plight, but their warnings were allegedly never acted on. Northamptonshire County Council said it was investigating.