THE plight of young carers looking after sick or disabled relatives will be placed under the spotlight at a conference next week.

Hidden Carers, organised by Derwentside Carers Support, will be held at Stanley Civic Centre, from 10am, on Tuesday.

Part of the conference will involve a presentation by the theatre group Snug, with workshops in the afternoon and an appearance by television agony aunt Denise Robertson.

John Atkinson and Emma Stillwell, from Barnardo's Derwentside and Easington Young Carers' schemes, will be doing one of the main presentations of the day.

They will highlight the problems and feelings of isolation faced by many young carers who find themselves in the position of being the main carer for an older, ill relative.

They will reveal how the average age of a young carer is only 12, but that it is not uncommon to find children as young as three having a caring role. The workers also found that 60 per cent of young carers live in a one-parent family, and that 12 per cent of young carers are looking after more than one person.

Mr Atkinson said: "A good proportion of young carers will be required to lift the person they are caring for.

"This results in the risk of developing back problems.

"Between a third and two- thirds of young people who care for someone with a mental health problem will develop a mental health problem."