Now that the kids have gone back to school, parents will be seeing the impact that buying all those new uniforms, shoes, stationery and tech has had on their bank balances.
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% 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 28-43) 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% increase in sales of school bags, a 191% rise in sales of school trainers, and a 155% growth in purchases of PE kits.
Among the millennial age group, Clearpay recorded a 938% jump in laptop sales and a 357% rise in tablet purchases.
Rich Bayer, UK country manager at Clearpay, says: “Grandparents are playing an increasingly vital role in preparing their grandchildren for the school year.
“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.
