In his political life he has been a UK government minister and he is now the leader of his party. But it was in a much more personal context that Sir Ed Davey listened attentively as he was given an insight into the work of a Wick-based project for young carers.

The leader of the Liberal Democrats understands what Caithness Klics and similar groups around the country are seeking to achieve because he too has experience of caring for close family members. As a schoolboy he looked after his mother while she was terminally ill with cancer, and now he cares for his disabled son.

Sir Ed heard about Klics from the charity's manager, Wendy Thain, when he visited Wick at the weekend during a tour of the Highlands and Orkney. She described how the project supports young people across the county who, for a range of reasons, have taken on caring responsibilities for parents or for brothers or sisters.

There are now more than 100 young carers on the books at Klics, from the age of five to 18.

Miss Thain admitted the task of paying for the service was becoming "tougher and tougher". The ideal situation, she said, would be for staffing costs to be covered by government funding so that all the project's resources could be directed towards facilities and activities for the young carers.

Sir Ed was secretary of state for energy and climate change from 2012 to 2015 in the coalition government. He won the Lib Dem leadership election last August after a spell as acting leader.

He was accompanied at Klics' premises in Macleod Road, Wick, by Jamie Stone, the MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, and Jill Tilt, who was elected recently as a Highland councillor for Wick and East Caithness.

Sir Ed explained: “There are 10 million carers, according to some estimates, across the UK – people looking after husbands and wives who have got dementia, people looking after relatives who have got physical or mental health problems, young people looking after their siblings or their parents, and it's almost like a forgotten group of people.

“I think personally they need a voice and these family carers need to have their issues addressed far more by politicians and by local government and national government.

“It's a big issue of social justice. I think there are a lot of people who are driven into quite difficult, challenging situations because they're having to do a lot of caring. For young carers it affects their education. There is a whole set of issues – if we don't think about carers, be they young carers or older carers, we're failing people across the community.

“And there are other issues, particularly around how it links to the health service. I'm a passionate believer that unless we sort out social care, including informal family care, we won't ever really sort out some of the aspects of the health service.

“There is quite a big issue here and I feel it is not being talked about enough.

“I have a background in care. I was a young carer myself. I have had a bit of a lifetime of caring and I've got a few insights into it.”

Sir Ed was four when his father died and was 12 when his mother, Nina Joan, became ill. He and one of his brothers nursed her until she died three years later.

The Lib Dem leader is involved with young caring organisations in his constituency of Kingston and Surbiton.

“It's something that I have thought about and experienced a lot. Now that I've got a bit more of a platform, I want to make sure that it comes higher up in the debate in wider politics," he said.

“As I do tours in different parts of the country, I'm quite keen to engage with carers' groups and understand the challenges that they face and hear about what they do in the community.”

Miss Thain told how she and her sister Shena MacBeath founded Klics (Kids Living in Caring Situations) in 2013. Miss Thain now leads a team of five workers covering Wick, Thurso and rural areas.

There is a referral system to identify young carers before they are introduced to Klics. In certain cases, families can be pointed towards other organisations such as Citizens Advice.

Some youngsters, Miss Thain explained, don't know how to hold a conversation or how to socialise but staff pass on practical skills and even help with homework.

“They come from loads of different backgrounds. I don't think people really know what's going on in their community,” Miss Thain said.

Miss Thain and her team underline how important it is for children to go to school.

“Most of them are very good in their attendance unless there is something big going on at home,” she said.

“I do feel that we've got a good connection with most of the schools. We say to the kids, 'Look, if you're struggling, if you've got a problem or if you feel you are not being listened to, we can come up to the school with you, we can come up as a voice for you.

“Quite often I have found myself going to the school with a young carer, speaking to the guidance teacher and them not knowing what has been happening. We are trying to give them a bit more awareness of what a young carer is and to look out for them.”

Gallery1

1 / 2

2 / 2

Sir Ed pointed out: “The classic young carer story is that they are quite often late at school, the school doesn't realise they've got a caring responsibility so they get punished, they don't say anything, then they get a bit more isolated, and you get a sort of vicious circle if that communication isn't right.”

Miss Thain gave an account of how Klics had responded to Covid-19. With most staff on furlough, Miss Thain and fieldworker Denise MacLeod kept the service running for seven months – carrying out garden visits, distributing activity packs and doing visual check-ins “just to see that everybody was doing okay”.

“We just kept it going through the pandemic," Miss Thain said. "We delivered food parcels out to rural areas and within Wick and Thurso. Any families that needed it, we just reached out.

“We'd just put it on their front door, give a knock, stand back and make sure that we could see it was getting picked up. We just dipped into the pots that we had because families were needing it.”

At the end of last year Klics was awarded £98,726 from the National Lottery towards a three-year project delivering one-to-one support, group sessions, activities and respite to give young people a break from their caring role.

Miss Thain told Sir Ed: “It has always been a dream that the government would fund our salaries to take the pressure off. I feel just now we're firefighting to get our salaries and it has a knock-on effect on the rest of the project.”

Klics' original base was at the old Wick South Primary School. The charity moved into the former Playbox Playgroup base near the former Hillhead Primary School last year and set about transforming the building into a comfortable and welcoming space for young carers. Between 10 and 15 can use it at a time.

I've got three that have gone to university and they still come back to visit, and I just burst with pride. I class them as all my own kids.

“Our aim here is to make our premises feel homely and safe and fun when they come in," Miss Thain said. "This has been a great opportunity for us and we've tried to put our stamp on it.

“It's all for the kids so that they have somewhere 'cool' and safe to hang out and also for the parents to come. And we want to fit in to the community.

“I have big dreams, and I would like to demolish all of this and to have a great big eco curved building that the community can use – young carers can use but so can little charities, and to have things like a food table so that families can come and take food when they need it. I've got huge ideas – this is just a very small scale of what I want."

Miss Thain spoke of her pride at seeing young carers go on to develop as individuals.

“I've got three that have gone to university and they still come back to visit, and I just burst with pride," she said. "I class them as all my own kids.

“We hope that we are a good bit of help for getting them further in their lives.

“When they're here, there are rules. We teach manners, we teach life skills – we are very old-school. It's things that don't happen in schools any more, like teaching them how to put a load of washing on, how to iron, how to prepare a meal.”

Sir Ed told Miss Thain that there were no groups like Klics when, between the ages of 12 and 15, he cared for his mother.

“There were moments when I felt quite lonely, I felt quite different from the other boys at school," he revealed. "I was going home to my mum who was ill in bed, cooking and doing lots of personal stuff for her and administering drugs. We used to have this big jar of morphine.

“We weren't rich but we had some money. We weren't thinking, 'How are we going to pay for the shopping?' I worry about those families where they don't even know that, or they haven't got a nana or a grandad who would come in. We had some support structure which kept us going.

“I don't think I defined myself as a young carer, but you do it.

“There are skills and characteristics you build through caring, but it can be exhausting and stressful. If you can get some support networks in then that helps a lot.”

Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.