LETTER: Cancer help

We are also warning that potential changes to the benefits system could leave many without a financial lifeline.

Over 490 people with cancer in Sussex depended on a Macmillan grant in 2014 to help them with costs of their treatment, receiving around £146,400 for vital essentials such as heating bills, clothing, bedding and transport to and from hospital.

Nationally, more people with cancer than ever before (over 85,000) also depended on us to understand and access the government benefits and tax credits system, including getting help to fill in complex and often time-consuming forms and tribunal representation from our local benefits advice services around the country, including in Sussex.

The growing number of people with cancer turning to us with money worries is a stark reminder of the financial impact of a cancer diagnosis when, on average, their income halves and their outgoings rocket.

As numbers surge, the support that organisations like Macmillan provide are becoming even more urgent and important, but we cannot do it alone.

Every sector has a duty to protect people with cancer from further financial turmoil.

Yet the Government, through its Welfare Reform and Work Bill, is proposing to reduce the benefits of people with cancer who are currently unable to return to work because they’re not well enough by around £30 a week.

Macmillan is calling on the Government to remove the proposed cut as we believe it will risk pushing the most vulnerable over the edge financially.

People in Sussex can find more at our ‘Put the Fair into Welfare’ campaign site at http://bit.ly/1Oad8NU.

Macmillan offers financial and benefits advice to anyone affected by cancer.

To speak to one of our welfare or financial experts, call us free on 0808 808 00 00, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, or visit http://bit.ly/1LdKXtG.

Rebecca Hawkins

Macmillan Cancer Support

Albert Embankment

London

• Want to share your views? Send your letters by email to [email protected], [email protected] or [email protected], or post them to Letters, Editorial, Cannon House, Chatsworth Road, Worthing, BN11 1NA. Remember to include your full name and address.

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