Parents provided £29.6 billion of direct financial support, equivalent to an average of £753 per head for all UK adults.

With rising house prices and corresponding deposit levels and stamp duty costs increasing, most parental support goes towards helping their children to buy a house. In total, UK parents transferred £8.3 billion to adult children for this purpose in the past year, with those that received this support benefitting from £13,281 on average.
Overall, just under a third (31%) of UK adults say that they could not afford to buy a house without financial help from their parents. As expected, this percentage is higher among younger adults, peaking at over half (55%) of 25-29 year-olds.

The second largest type of support is cash gifts and payments (£5.1 billion annually) and the third largest component is support for buying cars (£2.6 billion).
UK grandparents also did their share, contributing £5.6 billion last year. Again, most money was provided for the to support a house purchase, totalling just under £1.9 billion, with cash gifts coming second at £1.3 billion and £846 million being put towards help with rental payments.

Philip Robinson, Savings Director for Lloyds Bank said; “Clearly, the financial demands on parents and grandparents are now huge with billions being given to children each year to purchase things like homes and cars. Now, more than ever, saving for the future is really important. Good savings habits like saving small regular amounts each month, particularly into tax free ISAs, can really help to build a savings pot over the longer term.”

The amount of parental support is increasing: Nearly four in five (78%) young adults (aged 18 to 30) now receive some form of financial help from their parents after the age of eighteen, compared to 60% during the 1980s. Similarly, over a third (36%) now also receive support from their grandparents, more than doubling from 15% in the 1980s.
Overall, more than a quarter (27%) of UK adults say that they will be reliant on inheritance from parents to provide themselves a comfortable retirement. This percentage is highest among adults aged between 31 and 34, at 39%.