'Bank of gran and grandad' increasingly helping cover back-to-school costs, new data claims

But, alongside parents who have been shopping for back-to-school essentials, it seems the “bank of gran and grandad” has also been chipping in to help with these family finances.

New data shows a jump in spending by the ‘baby boomer’ generation on school items, showing it’s not just the school holidays where grandparents are needing to lend a helping hand to help stretched parents make ends meet.

The figures underline how some grandparents are now playing an essential role in helping to fund school supplies.

In particular, sales data from buy now pay later platform Clearpay shows a 129 per cent year-on-year sales increase in spending on school items by baby boomers aged 60-78 years old.

Clearpay compared May to July 2024 with the same period back in 2023 to make the findings.

Its trends data suggests that while millennial parents (those aged 28 to 43) are more likely to invest in high-end technology for their school-age youngster, such as tablets and laptops, grandparents are often focused on picking up the bill for essential school supplies.

Looking at the 60-plus age group, it has seen a 431 per cent increase in sales of school bags, a 191 per cent rise in sales of school trainers, and a 155 per cent growth in purchases of PE kits.

Among the millennial age group, Clearpay recorded a 938 per cent jump in laptop sales and a 357 per cent rise in tablet purchases.

Rich Bayer, UK country manager at Clearpay, says the figures suggest older generations are playing a growing role in helping families ensure children have the right clothes and equipment they need for a new school year.

“Grandparents are playing an increasingly vital role in preparing their grandchildren for the school year,” he said.

“At Clearpay, we’re seeing a trend where grandparents are stepping up not just emotionally but financially too, by investing in back-to-school essentials.”

Now that families have stocked up on back-to-school items, making sure that they don’t go astray, with the added expense of then having to re-buy them, is also key.

So it’s important to make sure that items they take into school are labelled clearly with their names, so they can be identified and reunited if any items go missing, and that tech such as mobile phones can be tracked.

Families may also want to use the government’s website page on applying for free school meals as another starting point, to see whether their children might be eligible for this additional form of financial support.

Processes for this vary across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Earlier this week, Scotland’s First Minister has blamed the previous UK government for his scrapping of a pledge to provide all primary school pupils with free schools meals.

John Swinney rolled back on a previous commitment to universal free school meals, which was pledged in the SNP manifesto at the 2021 Holyrood election.