Macmillan Cancer Support is reviewing the future of its specialist benefits advice services due to concerns over how it funds them.
The charity, which cut almost a quarter of its staff last year as it closed some services, will continue funding the services for another year but is speaking to other organisations about how to run them beyond May 2026.
Macmillan, which spends around £10m per year on the benefits advice services, has invested around £7m to keep them running for five months beyond the end of 2025.
Citizens Advice, which has worked with Macmillan to provide the free welfare benefits advice to people living with cancer in England for over a decade, is one of the organisations in talks with the cancer charity.
“We are in ongoing discussions with Macmillan to understand the implications of funding changes and how sustainable benefits advice for cancer care patients could be delivered in the future,” a Citizens Advice spokesperson said.
300 employed through services
Macmillan is not consulting on potential redundancies from the services, which employed more than 300 advisers in 2022.
However, according to a report in the Guardian, the potential changes to the services have been met with “shock and anger” by welfare advisers.
Steven McIntosh, chief partnerships officer at Macmillan Cancer Support, said the charity still offers support directly to beneficiaries with money concerns through its support phone line and its website.
“There is a rapidly rising number of people living with cancer in the UK, often struggling to access cancer care and support,” he said.
“This means that Macmillan needs to change how we work, to respond to these increasing needs now, and transform cancer care for the future.
“We’re proud of the impact achieved through funding of local welfare benefits organisations and advisers, but we are concerned that the way we fund this support cannot meet growing demand and isn’t sustainable.
“We have committed to working with these local partners and other national organisations as we identify alternative, long-term support options.
“Whilst we do this, we are investing approximately £7m in funding to extend these services until at least May 2026.”
Related articles
