Retirees are estimated to save their families more than £14 billion a year in care costs as they take time out of their week to look after their relatives, a new report has revealed.

A study from a retirement income specialist has shown that the average retired person spends 256 hours a year looking after grandchildren and other members of their family.

Should their families have paid for this level of care from third parties, it would have costed them each around £1,313 per year, or a total of £14 billion collectively.

The findings also reveal that 224,584 retirees spend more than 20 hours a week looking after their grandchildren alone, while a further 533,400 spend between 11 and 20 hours doing this.

An average retired person spends two hours a week looking after their grandchildren and 43 minutes taking care of their parents, according to the research from MGM Advantage, in addition to a further two hours caring for other members of their family.

Retirees in East Midlands take the most amount of time out of their week to look after their families, while those in London provide the least amount of care.