Today is 'Young Carers Awareness Day' - a national day of recognition for the 700,000 young carers in the UK who work around the clock providing care and support to family and friends.

Young carers are children and young people under 18 years old who provide unpaid care to a family member who is physically or mentally ill or disabled. These young carers often miss out on the vital services and support they are entitled to.

Research released today reveals that 80% of young carers are missing out on childhood experiences because of their care responsibilities.

Instead of seeing their friends, enjoying hobbies and completing homework these children as young as 10 years old are cleaning, cooking, administering medicine, shopping and looking after a sibling.

More and more people are caring for a loved one than ever before, with 1 in 8 people providing unpaid care. From taking a partner with an illness to hospital appointments, to helping a disabled sibling with washing and dressing, to caring full time for an elderly parent, we are increasingly a nation of carers, many of them children.

Carers UK research shows the value of the care we ourselves provide to friends and family as being worth £132billion per year! To put that in perspective it is 660 times the cost of the Bond film Spectre, and worth more than the NHS itself which spent £113billion in 2014-15.

If this unpaid care is worth that much to our country, then we need to be armed with the right services, support and advice in order to ensure its sustainability, especially for children and young people.

Winchester Young Carers is a local charitable group that has been set up to give guidance, support, friendship and 'time out' to young carers in this area.

Their mission is to improve the lives of children and young people with caring responsiblities by providing safe, quality support and an inclusive, holistic approach for the whole family.

They provide a diverse activities programme, a safe place for young people to share their thoughts and concerns, working with schools to raise awareness and running a befriending service for young carers.

If you know anyone in the area who is a young carer and could benefit from additional support please give Winchester Young Carers a call or visit their website www.wycp.org.uk