Calls for government to fund breaks for 'exhausted' unpaid carers in South Yorkshire
72% haven't had time off during the pandemic according to new stats
Charities say thousands of exhausted unpaid carers in South Yorkshire need a break after the huge pressure of the pandemic.
72% across the UK haven't had any time off from their their responsibilities during Covid according to new stats.
It's led to calls for the government to put £1.2 billion towards breaks for unpaid carers.
17 year old Thomas cares for his mum and dad in Sheffield who've both got health problems.
He says it's been really tough over the past year and a bit:
"It takes such a toll on us that we need someone there to help us be able to get on with our lives. Caring isn't all we are but it becomes that way and we need someone there to be able to take on that burden so we can live our own lives as well.
"Before the lockdowns I'd travel when I could - I'd go to London or Edinburgh and try and just get away from it. That feeling of leaving things behind when I could was brilliant and suddenly we couldn't - there was no break, you're stuck in the house with the person 24/7.
"You don't have those breaks where you're not thinking about it or you're not having to do something. It adds to the toll of having all these responsibilities weighing you down. Especially as I'm a student - I had GCSEs, now I have A-Levels - I have that pressure, I have the pressure of looking after my parents. For a lot of people it's just too much."
The research has been released this week to mark Carers Week.
Six charities supporting it - Carers UK, Age UK, Carers Trust, Motor Neurone Disease Association, Oxfam GB and Rethink Mental Illness - are calling on the UK Government to provide £1.2 billion funding for unpaid carers’ breaks, so that those providing upwards of 50 hours of care are able to take time off for their own health and wellbeing.
Pauline Kimantas is from Sheffield Carers Centre - she's worried:
"Not getting a break and becoming progessively more exhausting in some cases I think is one of the most worrying aspects of the pandemic and how it's affected carers.
"Where people were getting a break, most of those haven't been happening. Partly because the activities have had to either stop completely throughthe lockdowns, or even where they're running again the numbers are often reduced because of the social distancing.
"The cumulative effect for people is if they carry on giving and giving and giving, carrying out a lot of tasks and activities to look after people, and they don't get a break, eventually it becomes very difficult for them to carry on at all."
It comes as Sheffield Young Carers are urging the government to assign a designated Young Carers Lead in every school - a petition's got more than 1200 signatures.