Aviva Community Fund has provided £977 of match funding
Gifting the UK's unpaid carers a vital break away
London, England, United Kingdom
Aim
Our goal is for every full-time unpaid carer in the UK to have a short break away. Join us in making this happen.
Carefree transforms vacant accommodation into vital breaks for unpaid carers.
We have thousands of breaks in fantastic hotels donated by our hospitality sector partners ready to be offered to carers. But, we need additional funding to reach and sign-up carers up and down the country.
We all know a carer, maybe you are one - together let's get them the rest and recuperation they so desperately deserve.
Read more about us: Carefreespace.org
And hear our amazing carers speak here: Carefree in Action
Building back better
During the height of the pandemic, with many support services unavailable, unpaid carers provided an equivalent of £530m of care each day to their family, friends and loved ones. Despite this huge contribution they never received access to the same offers of support made to other key workers.
A key reason for this is the lack of a national system of identification for their caring role, and a broader lack of recognition for unpaid carers' central role in our health and social care system.
Carefree's service changes all this. Through our game-changing self-referral tool, carers are, for the first time, able to self-identify as a carer and get access to resources they need. Through our platform, and your support, we can easily get the nation's unpaid carers connected to the essential break they need to build back their well-being and resilience.
Impact
48% of unpaid carers haven't had a break in 5 years. It takes a huge toll on their mental and physical health and wellbeing.
Taking a break away from your caring responsibilities is known to have a massive impact on carers' lives. In surveys 86% of carers stated they would not have had a break without our help, and 98 % reported improved wellbeing.
We provide access to resources that make a real difference to lives, and at scale our service will radically improve the resilience of social care in the UK.
Funding impact
Funding from your donations will be spent on core service delivery costs, making sure we reach, engage, and onboard new carers to our service, getting thousands a vital break away. Costs will include promotional activities and awareness of our service (letting carers know there are breaks for them) and building up our customer service capacity to support carers in getting breaks.
Your support will have a direct and transformational effect on the carers' lives.
And finally! If. you or someone you know is a full-time unpaid carer visit this link to sign-up: https://carefreespace.org/take-a-break/
This project successfully funded on 7th December 2021