The charity Grandparents Plus has published the results of a survey of young people about their grandparents.

The survey of 1566 young people aged 11-16 in schools around Wales and England, showed that today’s grandparents are closer than ever to their teenage grandchildren.

The survey also found that grandparents are often filling the parenting gap and playing a growing role in supporting the education of their grandchildren by helping with everything from homework to careers advice and parents’ evenings. Over half (55%) of maternal grandmothers attend school events.

Based on the research, Grandparents Plus is calling for:

• Schools to do more to involve grandparents in school life
• Flexible working opportunities extended so that working age grandparents can take it up and 2 weeks’ granny leave in a child’s first year.

The report is available to download from the Grandparents Plus website.