Ian Browne, a retirement planning expert at Quilter, commented on the findings: “Gifting between the generations is increasingly a lifeline for younger people as they struggle to get on the housing ladder, pay for education and deal with the ever-increasing expenses of living. And now they must do all that while facing another recession.

“Meanwhile, older generations, particularly Baby Boomers, have benefited from an astronomical increase in housing prices, among other things.

“However, it is vital that helping the younger generations doesn’t come at the expense of their own retirement funds and so there is a careful balancing act to figure out if you can afford it.

“As a rough guide we encourage people to look at the Pension and Lifetime Saving Association’s Retirement Living Standards to get an understanding of how much they will need in later life. It is also important to come up with a plan and the associated costs of social care needs.

Other gifts may count towards the value of an estate and a gift can be anything that gas value such as money or property.

Where IHT is due on gifts made during a person’s life, it will be charged on the following tapered scale:

• Gift given less than three before death – 40 percent IHT levied
• Between three and four years – 32 percent IHT levied
• Between four and five years - 24 percent IHT levied
• Between five and six years – 16 percent IHT levied
• Between six and seven years – eight percent IHT levied
• Seven or more years – no IHT due