I pledged my support to unpaid carers across Edinburgh South as part of Carers Week 2019, running from 10-16 June.

Carers Week is a national awareness week that celebrates and recognises the vital contribution made by those who take care unpaid of someone living with an illness, disability, mental health condition or as they grow older. Research released for Carers Week suggests there could be many more people than previously thought acting as unpaid carers to their family and friends – as many as 8.8 million adult carers across the UK.

I attended an event in Parliament to celebrate the valuable contribution carers make locally.

The seven charities driving Carers Week 2019 are calling on individuals, organisations and services throughout the country to improve the lives of carers by getting carers connected to practical and financial support, and are calling for a step change in the way society supports those caring unpaid for family and friends.

The call comes after new research revealed that one in three unpaid carers (35 per cent) are always or often lonely, compared with just one in twenty (five per cent) of the general population.