Grandparents play a vital role in family stability, but for many, those bonds are vulnerable when adult children separate or divorce. The legal framework provides a pathway to contact, but not an automatic right: as a result, hundreds of thousands of grandparents lose meaningful contact with grandchildren each year.
This report draws on official data and sector research to examine the issue of the rights of grandparents across England and Wales. It combines quantitative indicators from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), the Community Life Survey, and leading charities such as Resolution and Kinship.
Experts at Stowe Family Law analysed this data to form a picture of the current state of play in England and Wales when it comes to grandparents’ rights, exploring what the data tells us and where there are gaps in the research, to form conclusions about whether the system would benefit from legal changes.
What we know:
1) Lots of families are splitting up, and that matters for grandparents.
The official figures from the Office for National Statistics show that around 80,000 to 180,000 divorces happen every year in England and Wales; many of these are between couples who have children. When parents separate, grandparents can suddenly find they have reduced or no contact with their grandchildren. This can often depend on how the separation plays out.
2) More families are going to court to determine who children can live with and visit.
Ministry of Justice data shows a rise in what are called private law applications; these are court cases where parents or relatives ask a judge to decide about child arrangements. There were about 25,000 such cases in 2020, doubling to more than 50,000 by 2023, showing that more families than ever are struggling to agree privately about arrangements for children.
This can make it harder for grandparents to keep in touch if they’re not directly involved in proceedings. There are many possible legal routes to take to resolve contact issues – in fact, over 80% of Stowe’s cases are settled outside of court with mediation, offering families a far less adversarial and more constructive route to maintaining important relationships – but when communication breaks down completely, some grandparents may still need to pursue formal legal options to secure contact.
3) Loneliness is part of this story, too.
Many reasons are cited for the loss of a grandparent-grandchild relationship, including family feuds, financial conflicts, differences of opinion on parenting styles, different religious and cultural beliefs, and geographical distance. The reasons cited usually have a wider impact on the family dynamic and may mean that multiple relationships are cut off at once. This can leave the grandparent in a position of isolation. The Government’s Community Life Survey reports that about 7% of adults in England – roughly 3 million people – feel lonely “often or always.” When a grandparent loses contact with their grandchildren – something they often describe as a kind of bereavement – it can deepen that sense of isolation.
4) Grandparents are doing a lot of heavy lifting as carers.
A 2023 survey found that 52% of grandparents were caring for a grandchild during the parent’s working week. Of those:
- 68% provided before- and/or after-school care
- 80% spent an average of 2 and a half hours a week cooking for their grandkids
- 56% carried out the school run
- 42% transported their grandchildren to clubs and hobbies.
- 69% babysat in the evenings
- 63% were called to support if their grandchildren were ill.
The study estimated these grandparents spent 22 hours and 19 minutes a week providing free childcare, and that this saves the UK economy a staggering £96 billion.
There are grandparents stepping up full-time, too. The charity Kinship found that around 69% of kinship carers are grandparents: people who have stepped in to raise their grandchildren full-time when parents can’t. These carers report high levels of stress, financial pressure and loneliness, with about 15% saying they feel lonely often or always.
5) Many grandparents are completely cut off.
A survey by the organisation Resolution reported that 15% of grandparents said they had been stopped from seeing their grandchildren. That’s an estimated 2 million people across the country who have lost some form of contact, and around 250,000 who have never been allowed to see their grandchildren at all.
When you put all these elements together, they tell a clear story:
- Relationship breakdown impacts the wider family, not just the couple
- Grandparents have no automatic right to see their grandchildren
- Many experience deep loneliness when this happens
Grandparents aren’t just “extra” family members. They’re often the people providing free childcare, stability during difficult times, and emotional continuity for children whose parents are separating. When contact is cut off, it isn’t just the grandparents who lose out, the children do too.
What we don’t know:
While existing research provides some important insights into grandparent access to grandchildren in the UK, there are still significant gaps in our knowledge. We’re lacking any meaningful data on so many elements of this complex subject, including:
- How many grandparents lose contact with their grandchildren and the main reasons why contact breaks down
- What happens when grandparents take legal action, including how many apply for Child Arrangements Orders and what outcomes they receive
- Which groups of grandparents are most affected, based on age, background, ethnicity, income and location
- The emotional and psychological impact on grandparents and grandchildren over time when contact is lost
- How effective mediation is in helping grandparents re-establish contact
- How many grandparents use counselling, legal or support services and whether these services make a difference
- How the UK’s system compares with other countries that give grandparents stronger legal rights
- How the quality of grandparent-grandchild relationships influences children’s development and wellbeing
All this suggests that grandparent rights aren’t working well in practice, and it highlights the need for simpler legal routes for grandparents to stay in contact, better mediation and support services, and more awareness of how isolation affects older family members after a breakup. Understanding these areas better is essential for creating policies and support systems that truly meet the needs of grandparents and their families, ensuring that no one is left behind during family breakdowns.
Why it matters:
The relationship between children and grandparents is more than just a family connection; it plays a crucial role in the emotional and social development of children.
For children
Research shows that when grandparents are actively involved in their grandchildren’s lives, it can lead to better outcomes for children, including lower levels of anxiety and depression. For instance, one study found that children with supportive grandparent relationships experienced better emotional wellbeing into their late teens and early twenties, indicating the long-lasting benefits of these bonds. Research has also revealed that grandparent involvement can boost educational attainment and social mobility for children.
The presence of grandparents can enhance children’s understanding of their family history and cultural heritage, fostering a sense of identity and belonging. When these relationships are disrupted, not only do grandparents suffer from feelings of loneliness and loss, but children also miss out on valuable guidance, companionship, and love.
For grandparents
There is an impact on grandparents, too. One survey indicated that 72% of grandparents felt less connected to their grandchildren following family breakdowns, highlighting how crucial these relationships are for both parties.
Grandparents who participated in a report by the Kirklees Safeguarding Children Partnership agreed that the impact on grandparents has many negative effects, especially intense chronic grief, increased anxiety and a lowered quality of life.
Though there are gaps in the evidence, what we do know suggests that we should prioritise policies and practices that facilitate and protect grandparent grandchild relationships, ensuring that children have access to the supportive figures they need in their lives.
What grandparents can do
In an ideal scenario, families would be able to negotiate the post-separation agreements between themselves. There are non-court dispute resolution methods that can assist where this is difficult, or an expert family lawyer can be brought in to conduct negotiation between the parties. If this is unsuccessful, a last resort would be an application to the Family Court, seeking permission for a Child Arrangements Order.
A court application is never the first port of call, particularly as the legal hurdle, combined with limited eligibility for legal aid, places grandparents at a disadvantage.
Family breakdown often triggers emotional and financial pressures that exacerbate isolation, making engaging in this process even harder for some.
If the legal hurdles or the pressures of family breakdown are making this process difficult, Stowe Family Law can help: contact us today for support with navigating the next steps.
Conclusion
Grandparents can be indispensable to children’s emotional stability and family cohesion, but the current system leaves many without recourse when contact is lost. The evidence assembled here provides a factual basis for further research and evidence-based reform – legal, social and policy-driven – to ensure that no grandparent is left behind in the aftermath of family breakdown.
Our solicitors have observed first-hand that grandparents are often collateral casualties of parental conflict. We would therefore like to advocate for the British government to dedicate more resources and funding to this neglected area.
The Government has not suggested that grandparents’ rights are on the table for reform. However, the research speaks for itself – the role of grandparents in children’s lives benefits both the grandparent and the grandchild in most families. There should be a more in-depth analysis of this relationship, and how the separation of parents impacts wider family dynamics: we call for the government to prioritise research exploring this relationship on a much broader scale to develop a greater understanding of how such situations can be managed in the best interests of the children involved.
Accessibility to services and funding should be urgently reviewed pending the outcomes of this research. The process of application for contact should be streamlined for grandparents, but in the meantime, significant improvements in signposting to mediation and kinship support services would greatly enhance the experiences of those navigating the system. Better services should be available, and a funding review is central to this.
Data Sources
- Office for National Statistics (ONS), 2023. Divorce numbers.
- Office for National Statistics (ONS), 2021. Latest kinship census data.
- Ministry of Justice, 2023. Family court statistics quarterly
- Kinship, 2025. Handle with care.
- Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, 2024. Community loneliness survey
- Resolution, 2023. Grandparents united for children report
