The cost of living crisis is forcing parents to scrap their inheritance plans, new research from Killik & Co suggests.

More than a fifth of parents said they were changing their wealth transfer plans.

Some are bringing forward their inheritance plans to help their children now.

Seven out of 10 said they had already given children money to help them through the current difficult times, or are planning to pass money to them early.

A quarter of parents said they were expecting to leave nothing at all on death.

Households have been forced to face significant increases in the costs of food, energy and housing. The latest consumer prices index showed that inflation was 10.1% for the year to September.

Within that the price of food and non-alcoholic drinks climbed by 14.6% while there were substantial increases in the price of vegetable oil (65%), pasta (60%) and tea (46%).

Meanwhile, figures from the Office for National Statistics highlighted that average earnings were failing to keep up, forcing many people to turn to other family members for help.

A third of parents said they were worried about the ability of their children or grandchildren to cope and more than one in ten said they were no longer able to help them financially.

Only a fifth are confident they can deal with the cost of living impact on their own finances, while a tenth said they were receiving financial support to help with higher living costs.

William Stevens, head of Financial Planning at Killik & Co, said: “Living costs are rising at a pace that we haven’t seen for decades, so it’s not surprising that people are having to make some difficult financial decisions.”

He said parents want to make a positive contribution when they pass on wealth and that desire does not change during a time of economic uncertainty.

He said: “Our research shows that many are bringing forward inheritance plans to help their children and some are having to rethink their plans because of the rising cost of living. Parents naturally want to put their children first, but it's vital that they consider their own needs.”

• Killik & Co commissioned Opinium Research to question 2,100 parents about their wealth transfer plans between 1 and 4 October 2022.