Unpaid Carers Find A Break At Last

Carefree’s mission is to enable every full-time unpaid carer to get access to an annual break by connecting them to accommodation donated at scale by the hospitality sector out of its excess capacity.

Unpaid carers are being urged to benefit from donated hotel stays around the UK to offer them respite from their caring duties.

There are an estimated 8.8 million unpaid carers in the UK who provide 80% of home care, yet are rarely recognised for their frontline role and lack access to the same support as NHS staff or paid care home workers.

Until now, access to carer breaks has been an issue landlocked by lack of funds, shortages in interim care and unequal opportunities across different local authorities and regions.

By providing hotels with the capability to donate their unsold rooms to carers (est. at 1 million per week in the UK), charity tech start-up Carefree has been able to open up a transformative supply of break options at no extra cost to the public purse so that carers don’t have to wait any longer to get the respite support they need.

32-year-old Adele Fox from Brighton is a full-time carer for her mum, Grace, who lives with multiple sclerosis. She has taken two Carefree breaks with her sister in London and Manchester and said: “When you're in the middle of it the person you're caring for comes first and that's the priority and it can become all-consuming. By finding Carefree and taking a break it helps you to renew yourself to then support your loved one or the person you care for much more.”