A generation of young Scots are growing up reliant on financial hand-outs from their parents.
New research by the Bank of Scotland has found that the proportion of young adults who need money from ”cashpoint parents” has climbed from 61% in the 1980s to 84% today.
Not only are they seeking support to pay for big items such as going to university, getting married or buying a house, they are even struggling to meet everyday costs such as rents, bills and spending money without help.
The research findings, contained in the first Bank of Scotland family savings report, show that 71% of Scots believe a university education is essential.
More than half agree that helping their children buy their first home is also vital, while 51% want to leave their children an inheritance and nearly two in five think it’s important to help pay for their child’s marriage.
But the survey highlights that young Scottish adults are getting a growing amount of support for day-to-day spending. Almost half receive help with everyday expenses, compared to just 18% in the 1980s.
The proportion of young adults receiving their parents’ help with rent payments has trebled, from 8% across the UK to 30% in Scotland today, while 40% now get cash to buy big items like cars and televisions when less than a quarter used to.
The vast majority of Scots expect the cost of housing and education to rise faster than inflation and only one in five reckons wages will rise enough to keep pace.
Greg Coughlan, the Bank of Scotland’s head of savings, said: ”Much has been said about the bank of mum and dad in relation to the cost of getting on the housing ladder, but it is clear that Scottish young adults rely on financial support from their parents for a lot more than this, including day-to-day items.
”What’s more, this support means that parents are getting a greater say in the life choices their children are making, therefore have a greater influence on family life.”
The Scottish Government has been spending millions on trying to support youth employment. A new pilot scheme in four local authorities has been launched at a cost of £500,000 to try to persuade more businesses to take on graduates. It offers grants of up to £3,000 to small companies that offer a permanent job.
Announcing the scheme, Angela Constance, minister for youth employment, said: ”We are committed to tackling youth unemployment across the board and have already put substantial funding into improving the prospects of our young people.
”In times of economic difficulty, it is young people who can suffer the most.”
Labour’s Jenny Marra, MSP for North-East Scotland, said: ”The results of this research are not surprising. The cost of living is getting higher food, gas and electricity are all taking up more and more of everyone’s budgets. This is the reason that Labour held a summit meeting in Dundee last week to explore a collective bargaining scheme for gas and electricity for people in the city.”
She also said that youth unemployment is having an impact on incomes.
”One hundred thousand 16-24 year-olds in Scotland are also out of work. Many will be relying on their parents to help them through,” she said.