Worried about the cost of cancer? You’re not alone. Concerns about money are among the most common issues we get contacted about here at Macmillan. And our guide to getting financial support, Help with the cost of cancer, is the most popular of all our information resources. 

Managing the financial burden of cancer can be difficult. It can all add up – from the expense of travelling to hospital, to the loss of income from taking time off work. But Macmillan can help in a variety of ways.

 There’s our welfare rights team, who can provide advice and help you to apply for benefits you’re entitled to. Our recently introduced Macmillan financial guides can support you with any financial decisions you need to make – including mortgages, pensions, insurance, retirement, managing your everyday banking and getting your head around financial jargon.   And our grants team can give one-off payments for everything from heating bills, to extra clothing or a much-needed break. 

The financial year begins in April. So this is when we reprint (or re-upload) all of our financial information. Our main publications, freshly updated for April 2012– April 2013, are

:• Help with the cost of cancer – our flagship guide to benefits and getting financial support. It also has information about the Welfare Reform Act – new legislation that is changing the way the benefits system works

• A quick guide to financial help and benefits – a condensed version of Help with the cost of cancer, giving an overview of benefits and financial help.

• It all adds up – a large, comprehensive booklet for anyone looking to manage their money better, including specific info about the financial issues you may face as someone affected by cancer. The ten chapters of this guide are also available as smaller, individual booklets.

• Managing your debt: a self-help guide – a guide to understanding debt management, including tools to help you deal with debt. 

We also have information about work and cancer, managing fuel costs and getting travel insurance when you are affected by cancer.

If you would like to find out more about how we can help, call our support line on 0808 808 00 00. Our cancer support specialists are here Monday–Friday, 9am–8pm. 

Here’s what a couple of people have said after contacting us with money worries:

‘Macmillan helpline were brilliant, helping advise me what benefits I was entitled to. They informed me that I could claim a special tariff from my electric and gas supplier which helped enormously with my fuel bills, especially when I was so cold while having chemo. They also worked out that I should be claiming housing benefit. I was also sent a grant which paid for a new vacuum cleaner that I could use instead of the heavy one I had used previously. This meant I could gain back some normality in completing household chores (things we moan about and take for granted, that is until you can’t do them anymore).’ 

‘The staff who helped me at my local Macmillan benefits service were wonderful. Having worked all my life, I had never claimed benefits before and when I first started going to hospital I had no idea I was entitled to anything. The forms you have to fill out are so complicated – they’re really dreadful – and I’m not sure I’d have been able to fill them in properly without help. It was enough trying to cope with my cancer diagnosis without having to deal with all the paperwork and with money worries too.'

Living with cancer is expensive. But you don’t have to deal with the costs alone. If you are finding things difficult – in any way – we are here to help.