Taking care of an elderly parent costs adult children an average of £120,000 overall, a new survey shows.

This includes the cost of residential nursing care, plus the amount of unpaid care that adult children invest in their elderly parents over a period of ten years.

Elderly parents receive around £33 billion in unpaid care each year, the research from friendly society Liverpool Victoria found, with adult children giving up an average of 45 hours each month, which is equivalent to a full-time working week, to visit and run errands for parents.

For those paying for a nursing home for their parents, the cost could be as much as £71,000 over a 30-month-period, which is the average duration of an elderly person's stay in a care home, the report said.

With the annual cost of care looking set to rise, some people may choose to take out a secured loan against the value of their home, or raid savings to cover it.

"£33bn is a staggering sum to be given in unpaid care each year to elderly parents," said Nigel Snell, Liverpool Victoria's communications director.

"The costs of care are also going up and up, so the financial burden can only get heavier."

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