The Granny Army: Meet the Grandparents Holding Britain's Families Together

Every weekday morning at 7.15am, Sharon, 58, from Wigan, pulls up outside her daughter's terraced house, lets herself in with her own key, and starts making porridge for her two grandchildren before either parent has even left for work.

"I love it, don't get me wrong," she says, wiping jam off the kitchen table. "But some days I'm that tired I could cry. I did my thirty years of nappies and sleepless nights. I never thought I'd be doing it all again at nearly sixty."

Sharon is one of an estimated 1.7 million grandparents across the UK now providing regular, often full-time, childcare so their adult children can keep working. With nursery fees in some parts of the country topping £1,600 a month for a single child, many families say grandparents are the only thing standing between them and giving up work entirely.

"It's not a nice-to-have any more, it's a lifeline," says Marion, 63, from Preston, who looks after her three grandchildren four days a week. "My daughter says to me, 'Mum, if it wasn't for you I'd have to quit my job.' That's a lot of pressure to carry, if I'm honest."

Dr Priya Nathwani, a family psychologist who runs a research group on intergenerational caregiving at a Midlands university, says she has seen a sharp rise in grandparents seeking support for burnout. "We're calling it the Granny Army, but behind the jokey nickname is a genuine public health issue," she explains. "These women — and it usually is women — are often still working themselves, or nursing their own health problems, yet they feel they can't say no."

The financial squeeze is only part of the story. Family therapist Colin Ashworth, who practises in Manchester, believes the rise of the granny army reflects a deeper shift in how families organise themselves. "Two generations ago, it was assumed grandparents would help out a bit. Now it's assumed they'll be there five days a week, on call for sick days, school pickups, the lot. Nobody ever formally asked for that arrangement — it just crept up on families."

For some, the arrangement works beautifully. Pauline, 61, from Cardiff, says caring for her granddaughter twice a week has been the highlight of her retirement. "I get to watch her grow up close up, not just at Christmas. I wouldn't swap it for anything," she says. "My friends who don't see their grandkids much are the ones who seem lonelier to me."