Money and cancer

• Ensure that staff have sufficient knowledge about cancer, as well as general vulnerability training, to meet the needs of their customers with cancer.
• Ensure that people are aware of, and referred to, specialised support where this is available.
• Increase their focus on the early identification of people affected by cancer and the development of early interventions to support them.
• Develop new flexible policies and processes to help people affected by cancer manage mortgage repayments and other credit commitments.
• Invest in communications to their customers to increase awareness of - and confidence in - the support available, to encourage them to disclose a cancer diagnosis to their bank.
• Evaluate and monitor the effectiveness of interventions designed to support vulnerable customers and share best practice to improve sector-wide consistency.

• Develop a single shared standard for fair treatment of vulnerable customers which makes explicit reference to the needs of customers with cancer and other serious illness.
• Establish a monitoring and evaluation framework, with progress reported annually against this new single industry vulnerability standard.

• The FCA should provide clarity about how it expects banks to show that they are delivering improved outcomes for their vulnerable customers and how this will be assessed using regulatory tools and powers.
• The Government should amend the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 to create a requirement on the FCA to set out a reasonable duty of care for financial services providers to exercise towards their customers.

Financial Support for cancer patients has always been at the forefront of Macmillan’s work in Scotland. We are currently partnered with the Scottish Government and local councils to provide Financial and Benefits Advice at the five cancer centres in Aberdeen, Inverness, Dundee, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

With new welfare powers being devolved to the Scottish Parliament we will campaign to ensure that cancer patients get the benefits they are entitled to in as efficient a manner as possible.

We know from our research and from speaking to people affected by cancer that finances and the cost of cancer is an increasing issue for people in Wales. Only a quarter of people with cancer discuss their financial situation with a health or social care professional. 

We believe that each person who receives a cancer diagnosis should be offered the opportunity to access welfare benefits advice to ensure stress and anxiety around their finances is minimised.

Arian a Chanser

Gwyddom trwy ein hymchwil ac wrth siarad â phobl sydd wedi cael eu heffeithio gan ganser fod cyllid a chost canser yn broblem gynyddol i bobl yng Nghymru. Dim ond chwarter y bobl sydd â chanser sydd yn trafod eu sefyllfa ariannol gyda gweithiwr iechyd neu ofal cymdeithasol proffesiynol.

Credwn y dylai pob person sydd yn cael diagnosis o ganser gael cyfle i gael cyngor am fudd-daliadau lles er mwyn lleihau’r straen a’r pryder yn ymwneud â’u sefyllfa ariannol.

The Northern Ireland Welfare Reform Act was passed in November 2015 and the introduction of changes to working age benefits are now underway. This could have an impact on the financial support received by people affected by cancer. We consider it vitally important that people with cancer are supported through these changes and do not lose out on much needed income.

Currently, more than 1 in 4 people of working age receive no information about getting financial help when undergoing treatment for cancer in Northern Ireland. Macmillan is committed to making sure that everyone affected by cancer is signposted to appropriate support and receives the benefits they are entitled to.