People’s Choice Award 2026 Gold £500,000 - 1Million
Trigger warning: This film contains mention of suicide.
This is Michael's story. Michael Platt is a 76-year-old carer from Bolton. He cares for his wife, who has multiple sclerosis and suffers from chronic depression and suicidal tendencies. Michael's story is one of 4 million full time unpaid carers in the UK. 68% can't get a break when they need one.
Every week there are one million vacant hotel rooms in the UK. Carefree transforms them into vital breaks for unpaid carers like Michael.
Michael's story provides a compelling and uncomfortable insight into the day-to-day reality of an unpaid carer and explains the urgent need to provide carers with respite so they themselves can feel loved, supported and empowered rather than being left to battle it out alone.
Carefree worked with award-winning director, Jason Smith, on this crucial campaign to raise awareness of the extraordinary challenges faced by unpaid carers. The campaign, 'Change Happens Overnight' consists of five films, each of which features an unpaid carer whose story is revealed through emotionally-charged fragments of dialogue as we see them enjoying the restorative bliss of a short break, made possible by leveraging the hotel industry’s excess capacity. As each film unfolds, our emotions move from one extreme to another as we feel the transformation from trauma to peace, culminating in the revelation of the scale of the opportunity.
The Change Happens Overnight campaign, including Michael's story. was conceived for Carefree by Jason Smith, who shot the films over two days with cinematographer Martin Hill. The films were produced by Danny Fleet and Brad Smith at Presence, while post-production was provided by Gramercy Park Studios, part of Hogarth Worldwide, and music by Racket Music. Project direction provided by James Ricketts, co-founder of Carefree.
You can watch more of the carer stories from the Change Happens Overnight campaign here.
You can find out more about Carefree here.
Are you or someone you know a full time unpaid carer? Take a break with us
This is your story. Or has been. Or will be.
Carefree is a tech-first charity with a mission to transform vacant hotel rooms into vital breaks for unpaid carers. Providing this well-needed respite is the first step towards building a sustainable healthcare system that enables us all to thrive.
Every week, there are over 1 million vacant hotel rooms in the UK. We utilise some of these for 1-2 night stays for unpaid carers.
There are approximately 4 million full-time unpaid carers in the UK, caring for loved-ones. 1 in 2 of us will become a carer for a family member or friend who needs help with daily living at some point in our lives. Despite research showing that carers consistently rate breaks as one of the top three measures that would make the most difference for them 68% are unable to take a break when needed.
By leveraging the hotel industry’s excess capacity, we are enabling thousands of carers nationwide to access vital respite, without adding any additional cost to the public purse. It’s a future-facing and mutually beneficial model of regeneration that sees care not as a burden on the state but as an integral part of our lives and a fundamental cog in the wheel of our economy.
80% of home care in the UK is provided by full-time unpaid carers who sacrifice their own health and wellbeing to look after their loved ones. The changes that we make now will shape the social care landscape for years to come. We believe getting carers a break when they need it, is the first step to creating a more sustainable social care future, that shares, cares and enables us all to thrive.
Find out more about Carefree: https://carefreespace.org/
We align with the following UN Sustainable Development Goals:
Please register using the form below.
This helps us to stop voting abuse and also enables us to communicate the finalists and winners to everyone who voted. We will not pass this information on to anyone else.