Grants and loans
If you are living with cancer and need financial help, you may be able to get a grant or loan. Find out more about the different types.
What grants and loans can I get if I have cancer?
If you have cancer and need financial help, you may be able to get a grant or loan. These are available from local and national organisations in the UK.
On this page, find out information about:
- government and local council grants and loans
- grants and loans for heating costs
- grants and loans from charities and other organisations.
Related pages
Government and local council grants
Local Welfare Assistance schemes provide emergency grants and loans to help people who are on a low income or getting certain benefits. For example, you could get:
- vouchers or a pre-paid card to pay for food, fuel or clothing
- basic living items, such as a bed, cooker or fridge.
How you apply depends on where you live:
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If you live in England or Scotland
Contact your local council. You can find your local council’s contact details at GOV.UK.
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If you live in Wales
You can contact the Discretionary Assistance Fund on 0800 859 5924.
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If you live in Northern Ireland
You can contact the Finance Support Service on 0800 587 2750, or use textphone 0800 587 2751.
For more information, you can also speak to our money advisers on 0808 808 00 00.
Charities and other organisations
There may be other sources of help you can access such as:
- occupational funds
- help from utility companies – gas, electricity and water companies
- help from charities.
Turn2us helps people find specific charities that may be able to offer financial help. They have a grants search tool on their website. They also offer some grants themselves.
Young Lives vs Cancer provides financial hardship grants to children and young people with cancer and their families through their Specialist Social Work teams. These can help with the extra costs that cancer can cause. For more information visit Young Lives vs Cancer or call 0300 303 5220.
Your local library may have books about organisations that offer grants. This may include A guide to grants for individuals in need, published by the Directory of Social Change.
You may also be able to get other grants and loans from local and national organisations if you need financial help.
For more information, call our money advisers for free on 0808 808 00 00, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Grants and loans for heating costs
There are different types of support available if you are struggling with heating bills. Your energy supplier may be able to give you a grant, a discount or a better way to manage your payments. There are also energy-saving schemes and government grants to reduce your costs.
We have more information about managing your energy costs.
Will a grant or loan affect benefits I am getting?
In most cases a grant or loan is not counted as income and will not affect your benefits. But it is important to check. Call our money advisers on 0808 808 00 00, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. Or visit Turn2us.
Related pages
About our information
This information has been written, revised and edited by Macmillan Cancer Support’s Cancer Information Development team. It has been reviewed by expert medical and health professionals and people living with cancer.
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References
Below is a sample of the sources used in our benefits information. If you would like more information about the sources we use, please contact us at informationproductionteam@macmillan.org.uk
GOV.UK www.gov.uk [accessed May 2025].
NI Direct www.nidirect.gov.uk [accessed May 2025].
Social Security Scotland www.socialsecurity.gov.scot [accessed May 2025].
Macmillan Welfare Rights Team
Reviewer
Date reviewed
Our cancer information meets the PIF TICK quality mark.
This means it is easy to use, up-to-date and based on the latest evidence. Learn more about how we produce our information.
The language we use
We want everyone affected by cancer to feel our information is written for them.
We want our information to be as clear as possible. To do this, we try to:
- use plain English
- explain medical words
- use short sentences
- use illustrations to explain text
- structure the information clearly
- make sure important points are clear.
We use gender-inclusive language and talk to our readers as ‘you’ so that everyone feels included. Where clinically necessary we use the terms ‘men’ and ‘women’ or ‘male’ and ‘female’. For example, we do so when talking about parts of the body or mentioning statistics or research about who is affected.
You can read more about how we produce our information here.