Carer tech charity, Carefree, has mobilised £1m of gifted carer breaks to 4000 carers in 2024 thanks to growing support from the hospitality industry for its cause.
Unpaid carers contribute £162 bn of social care value every year. Yet 68% are not able to access a break when they need one according to Carers Trust.
Abigail Tan, CEO of St Giles Hotels said:
“Unpaid carers are the real caring economy, delivering an unacknowledged but critical level of care across the country.”
St Giles is one of 13 hotel groups to join the initiative, who are collectively offering 1 to 2 night gifted breaks with breakfast included for full-time unpaid carers and their companion in nearly 200 hotels across the country.
In addition to increased commitments from existing partners to bolster its growth, key new Carefree partners in 2024 include, Atlas Hotels UK’s largest franchisee of Holiday Inn Express and Greene King – through their Venture Hotels business.
The charity believes that providing unpaid carers a break through leveraging the hotel industry’s natural excess capacity is the only way to solve the problem of access to carer respite without pushing any additional cost onto the public purse.
Charlotte Newman, Carefree CEO said:
“While the deadlock on how to fix social care continues at the government level, the hotel industry has shown that new solutions can be forged through new economic models and proactive collaboration.”
Access to respite breaks for unpaid carers has traditionally been a complex and unusually difficult challenging process due to availability, funding and specific eligibility criteria. However, through Carefree’s approach, they can now access a growing range of break opportunities across the UK after completing a simple online self-referral process.
So far 27,000 carers have signed up to Carefree. Almost nine out of ten (88%) that have taken a break with Carefree say it would not have happened without this service. Almost all (95%) report improved wellbeing and more than four out of five (86%) are better able to cope with their caring role.
The charity is looking forward to celebrating its milestone of delivering 10,000 breaks since its formation in late 2017, where it will also be launching its first media campaign, directed by award-winning filmmaker Jason Smith, to raise awareness of the importance of carer breaks.
