ONE in four carers in Wales are struggling to make ends meet, experts have revealed, warning of the desperate financial hardships faced by many people looking after loved ones in the pandemic.

A Senedd committee was told yesterday that many carers are also feeling increasingly "isolated" and "exhausted" during the coronavirus crisis - partly because so many professional support services have been postponed.

"There is a real challenge that carers are going to be pushed to the edge, not just emotionally but practically as well," Simon Hatch, director of Carers Trust Wales, told the Senedd health committee.

Torfaen MS Lynne Neagle asked what impact the pandemic had had on carers' health and wellbeing.

Carers Wales director Claire Morgan said "most carers" felt their physical and mental health had declined since the start of the pandemic.

"Many, many carers are telling us they feel isolated, not able to see friends and family, and really feeling like they've been set adrift - completely ignored - and just expected to get on with it," she told the committee.

"That places a huge amount of strain on carers."

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Mr Hatch read the testimony of one carer, who said: "I have no time to myself anymore at all. I'm not sleeping, I cry every day because I can't cope."

Newport West MS Jayne Bryant asked about the financial difficulties carers were currently facing.

Llinos Roberts, chief officer at Carers Outreach Service, said many people had given up their jobs during the pandemic to provide care.

"We've seen carers need financial support to help with food [and] vital equipment such as tumble dryers," she told the committee, adding: "Some of the situations are genuinely heartbreaking - they don't even have the vital equipment they need to provide care. It's a very disheartening situation."

Committee member Andrew RT Davies asked the experts what support should be given to carers moving forward.

Mr Hatch called for "more sustainability of funding" for third-sector carers and for the Welsh Government to draw up an "ambitious and robust" action plan.

Ms Roberts called for more work to increase carers' confidence in the support services available and said care organisations needed "long-term funding".

Ms Morgan said NHS and social care workers had rightly been praised for their work during the pandemic, but that should extend to "absolutely essential" unpaid carers.

"I don't think you can overstate... the contribution they've made and how much we should support them moving into the future."