Number of unpaid carers grows in the East
13 June 2019, 06:23 | Updated: 13 June 2019, 06:25
There has been a big increase in the number of unpaid carers in the East of England.
It's thought there could be as many as 872,000 in the region now, up from around 600,000 in 2011.
The figures have been released as part of Carers Week.
Nicky looks after her autistic six year old son, and told Heart caring responsibilities hugely affect day-to-day life.
"Not only do you lose groups of friends because you can't go out and socialise with the group of people you used to, you don't really have anything in common with them anymore," she said.
"You kind of lose the ability to talk about anything other than the person you're caring for or the battles you're having to fight."
Nicky doesn't think the Carer's Allowance goes far enough.
"As far as the financial side of things - £60 a week is just horrific.
"I mean it literally boils down to 34p an hour or something like that."
