Adults across the UK are lending money to their parents who have found themselves struggling financially in recent months, it has been revealed.

Parents have been handing over sizable sums to their children to pay off their debts in recent years and now almost £11 billion is now thought to be heading back in the other direction.

According to Scottish Widows, a third of all the money given or lent to British consumers by their children is designated for solving debt problems.

However, parents are still thought to be lending their sons and daughters considerably more than they receive and this is believed to be partly why so many are facing money problems of their own.

"It’s obvious that parents have felt the pinch as a result of being ‘sapped’ for thousands of pounds from their adult children and are now turning the tables on them and ‘sapping back’," said Anne Young, savings expert at Scottish Widows.

According to Moneysupermarket.com reports, as many as 6.8 million British consumers are now thought to be experiencing debt problems related to their energy supplies.