We need to strike a balance between looking after the staff as best we can

but also making sure that it doesn't damage the company.

There's several ways that you can impact the cash flow

to make sure that you can continue trading and have an job for them when they return.

I had a business to run, and if I'd have gone under, the company would have suffered and possibly gone under as well.

[music]

For a small business, there are some really critical financial issues to think through.

There's obviously the pay that you're going to pay the individual during their period of time off sick

and that may be limited to statutory sick pay, which does have huge implications for the individual.

But there are also the considerations for the business

in terms of bringing somebody else in to cover that individual's work.

I'm one of the directors of a small company of about 12 people.

Lincoln was a graduate trainee, he was 22 years old, he was very enthusiastic, very eager to learn.

Lincoln worked for us for about four months before it became clear that he was quite seriously ill.

As a small company, we don't have a big infrastructure.

We don't have an HR department or a legal department and so it puts quite a lot of pressure on the directors.

Luckily, we had a permanent health insurance scheme which paid for the majority of Lincoln's salary.

It removed a lot of the worry from the process, from the financial and administrative point of view.

and we're very glad we had that

One of the big pressures of running your own business is cash flow,

so if one of the members of staff is affected by cancer, then clearly the business needs to think and readjust.

The things that you can really focus on are chasing your invoices, getting the monies that are due to you in quickly.

You can talk to your landlord; is there a way that you can extend the term or really try and reduce the cost of the rent?

If you're hiring a car or a van, what are the terms of that? Is it something you can give back?

Are there any emergency fundings? What grants are available?

So there are lots of different ways of trying to impact your cash flow positively during this period.

I was diagnosed with mantle cell lymphoma,

the treatment for which was six doses of chemotherapy followed by a bone marrow transplant.

Following my diagnosis of cancer, I had a meeting with my line manager.

I informed him about my wish to continue working through the treatment.

He was supportive with that, offered full use of the company car,

they would continue to pay me and take any time off I needed.

Once I was fit enough, I returned to work.

I was there for two weeks and I was asked to go to a meeting in Glasgow, a good 3 1/4 hour drive.

My line manager informed me that they had to let me go because of my ongoing situation with the cancer

and that I should make my own way home to Southport again.

He made it clear the company were sacking me because they didn't want to hinder my recovery in any sense

and that by sacking me, it would reduce the stress on me.

Driving home, I was obviously extremely worried about how I was going to explain to my wife.

We had a newborn baby and all our plans were being changed.

It's important for employers to recognise that failure to make reasonable adjustments to support somebody in the workplace

can result in that individual suing their employer.

So it's very much about having the conversation with the employee

about what they can do rather than necessarily what they can't do.

That month's edition of the Macmillan news had a section in it outlining the changes to the employment law.

It made clear in the Macmillan booklet that it was unfair dismissal, there was absolutely no doubt about it.

We decided that we would sue the company for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination.

I was awarded £62,000 because of the procedure that was used to sack me.

[music]

I'd been running my own business for 12 years with a business partner.

I noticed a problem with my breast. By the time I went to the doctors, it was quite a large tumour.

When I was diagnosed, I was resigned to having a long period of treatment

and I knew that there was going to be a problem at work

because there were only four of us who actually work in the company.

It was very important to me not to be seen as a cancer patient.

I wanted to be seen as a normal person and I made a decision that I would try to work the work in with the treatment.

For the small business owner sitting down and working out a plan of action in conversation with their healthcare practitioners

about the impact that their diagnosis is likely to have on them is really important.

My left arm was very weak, which meant it made driving an ordinary car very difficult.

While I was in hospital, I'd actually bought an automatic car. Because of that, I was able to drive.

Keeping busy and making sure the appointments were kept around my hospital appointments

was very important to me. And that's how I got through it.

If you're the owner of the business and it's you yourself that's had the cancer diagnosis,

there are all sorts of considerations for you to bring into mind.

For example, will your business survive if you take a prolonged period of time off,

how are you going to communicate with your customers what's happening to you?

That can also create an awful lot of stress during the time that you're going through your treatment.

My business partner wanted reassurance that I would be able to carry on and work and fulfil our obligations.

I did feel under a lot of pressure.

I didn't really want to know about their concerns because I'd got too much on my own plate to worry about.

One thing about running your own business is it can be quite lonely and it's who do you turn to?

So in situations like this it's really important that you talk to your bank manager, you talk to your accountant,

you talk to your solicitor; if you're a member of the Chamber of Commerce

or the Federation of Small Business or a trade association,

it's really important to go and find support and advice from those sort of businesses and organisations.

We have an external solicitor who helps us with legal advice and we consulted him

to make sure that we were doing the right things for Lincoln,

but also to make sure that we were protecting the company.

It's important for a small business owner to have a conversation with customers,

reassuring that the business will be able to continue to deliver services during that rather difficult period of their treatment.

I saw the clients on a regular basis and I just told them very matter of factly

what was going to happen a couple of weeks before my operation.

I did say that I would be having treatment but that I would be able to fulfil the contracts.

If I did become ill, we would find someone to take on the work.

They were very sympathetic towards me and said that they would do anything they could to help me.

We supported Lincoln as much as possible during his illness, and I think that was partly because

we as directors wanted to support him personally and also I think it demonstrated to the rest of the people in the company,

it reassured them that we were actually helping someone providing that support during a very difficult period.

I think employers need to treat their employees who have been diagnosed with cancer extremely sympathetically.

If they'd not treated me the way they'd done, I would still be working for them now and I would be a very loyal employee.

And they wouldn't have lost the expertise I brought to the party.

Also, when I was talking to customers, I'm sure had the company treated me well, my customers would have been very impressed.

As it is now, they're disgusted.

[music]

I was aware that there were places I could go to for support.

Looking back, I wish I had, but at the time I was too busy trying to get through treatment and run my business,

so I didn't use anybody else.

Looking back, I hope we dealt with it as well as we could.

At the time, we could have done with better advice.

Lincoln's illness went on for several months, quite a few months, and quite frankly we were making it up as we went along.

It would for us have been a great help to be able to see how other people have dealt with that experience