Cost of living support for your patients
How Macmillan is supporting your patients
We know a cancer diagnosis can be tough on someone's finances. With the cost of living rising, many people affected by cancer are making tough choices between things like getting to hospital appointments, and paying for food, water and utility bills.
Macmillan is committed to doing whatever it takes to give people living with cancer the support they need. On this page, you will find information about the different ways Macmillan is supporting your patients through the cost of living crisis.
The latest cost of living information for your patients
We have created a single section of our website dedicated to cost of living crisis and the support that is available for people with cancer. We’ve also created a short, easy to remember web page address that you can share with people so that they can easily find this information – www.macmillan.org.uk/cost-of-living.
People can read about:
- The ways Macmillan can support people with financial worries
- Details of who they can speak to if they have money worries or need emotional support
- Information about benefits people might be entitled to and how to claim them
- Updates on cost of living announcements from the UK Government
- Advice about managing household bills
We also have information about dealing with the costs of cancer in different formats, including audiobooks and Easy Read versions.
Booklets and resources
Macmillan Grants for people with cancer
Macmillan Grants are small payments of £200 to help people on low incomes who need support with the extra costs that living with cancer can bring. We are hearing from more people with cancer who are feeling the enormous pressure of rising living costs. This is why we have added £3.5 million to Macmillan Grants.
How to apply for a Macmillan Grant?
Health and social care professionals can apply for a Macmillan Grant on behalf of a person living with cancer. It's really easy to apply, but first you'll need to create an account to access our online application platform. You can also track the progress of your application when you log in.
People with cancer can also apply directly themselves. We have information about Macmillan Grants that you can share with your patients.
Who is eligible for a Macmillan Grant?
To be considered for a grant, a person living with cancer must meet these criteria:
Be aged 18 or over.
- They have a cancer diagnosis.
- They are a UK resident.
- They have no more than £1,000 in savings for your household.
- They have a low income after paying rent, mortgage and Council Tax. This means a weekly income of less than £323 for a household of one person or less than £442 per week for a household of two or more people. We do not count Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and Attendance Allowance (AA) in our calculations.
Financial advice from Macmillan
If your patients are worried about money, there are experts on the Macmillan Support Line they can talk to.
Our money advisers can help people to find out what benefits they might be entitled to. People can speak to an adviser from Monday to Friday, 8am-6pm, as well as 9am-5pm on Saturday and Sundays.
To speak to a money advisor, people can:
- call the Macmillan Support Line for free on 0808 808 00 00
- chat to a specialist online
- use our interpreter service to speak to advisors in different languages.
Money and cancer hub
Our Money and Cancer hub gives people practical information about money. All they need to do is answer a few simple questions to get only the information that is relevant to their situation.
Benefits calculator
Macmillan’s handy benefits calculator works out which financial support and benefits a someone is entitled to.
The calculator uses information about someone's income, savings, pension and existing benefits. Once this information is inputted, the calculator will check what a person can claim and also offers the opportunity to download or print the results for future use.
Emotional support for your patients
If you are supporting people with worries about money and feel they need someone to talk to or emotional support, we can help. Here are some of the ways people can get this support.
Talk to other people with cancer on our Online Community
The Macmillan Online Community is a free online place for people who are living with or who are affected by cancer to chat about the issues affecting them.
There are forums for all sorts of different topics, including types of cancer. Here are some forums you may find helpful.
- Emotional support forum. Cancer can be emotionally draining, but sharing their feelings can help people feel better.
- Cancer chat forum. People can use this space to talk about anything and everything including sharing experiences and advice on practical issues when living with cancer, such as money, work, benefits, transport, food and drink, organising support at home, or getting specialist equipment.
Other emotional help
We have other services to provide emotional support for people with cancer.
This includes things like: