Bringing grandparents back into live with us has multiple benefits - Julian Horberry

And with many older adults living alone or in care facilities, the festive period goes from being a time of merriment and connection, to instead becoming fraught with sadness and isolation.

The more we cut out our family members, the more we are dividing our generations. But work by organisations like iHus is seeking to reverse this worrying current trend and challenge the status quo.

iHus is asking ‘why is a granny just for Christmas?’ and instead challenging UK families to invest in engagement with elderly parents and relatives all year round, keeping them company and helping them remain active and engaged well into their retirement.

Over the last 13 years, iHus has united over 400 families across England and Wales through the construction of safe annexes. And it’s not just the elderly benefiting from the annexe living solution. They also enable the active-retired to make the most of their pensions and propose a more affordable option for young people unable to get on the house ladder due to expensive house prices.

These multi-generational living spaces allow families to spend time together while retaining their right to independence and their own private space; providing a secure, stable base for the elderly - or the young - to launch their independent lives.

This type of solution provides a modern answer to an evergreen question of care for older adults.

With the cost of care becoming an ever-growing concern for many families, now may be the time to consider the benefits of bringing a lonely grandparent back home with you. Not only will this allow them to be with their family at special times like Christmas, it also provides a long-term solution for life close to their loved ones all year round.

Bringing a grandparent home can help to reduce the cost of care, since you can offer appropriate care and support for them yourself rather than relying on costly outside care providers. I stress it’s important to understand the different types of care available, and the different factors that should be considered when making your decision. Responding to potential customers who wanted to consider all options, we developed a calculator that can help customers quickly assess the costs associated with bringing a grandparent into your home – providing an estimated cost of care, as well as a breakdown of the costs associated with each service.

Retirement continues to be a hot topic in mainstream media and is understandably an emotive and highly relatable topic to millions of UK families. Right now, the UK is projected to have raised the retirement age to 68 by 2046 to ensure more people are in work, while recent reports suggest that the change could arrive even sooner. And yet, retirement marks a new chapter in people’s lives when they have time to spend on leisure activities and with family and friends.

For some, the current cost of living crisis threatens our ability to retire from a job, and sacrifice vital income, while recent headlines have speculated that the UK Government could seek to raise the national pension age far sooner than initially pledged.

In response to these trends, multi-generational living is quickly emerging as an efficient and caring solution for families with care challenges. Aviva's 2020 Family Living Report examined the changing dynamics of family life in the UK and concluded that multigenerational households are becoming increasingly popular, increasing by almost 20 per cent since 2001.

iHus supports the findings that the main drivers behind this trend are financial pressures, such as the high cost of housing and living, as well as cultural changes, such as a greater acceptance of diverse family structures. The report also highlighted the benefits of multigenerational households, such as increased financial security, improved social networks and better care for the elderly. And, as we all adjust to the apparent new normal of smaller Christmas gatherings, it's worth considering the benefits of keeping family members close all year round. Spending time with family members all year round allows us to create strong, long-lasting relationships.

Julian Horberry is group marketing director at iHus.