A truly difficult decision…
From the moment lockdown began on March 23, all our lives changed overnight.
We lost many of our freedoms, our normality, and tragically, many of our loved ones.
Worst still, the people we work so hard at Macmillan to support became some of the most hit by this cruel virus. Not only were people with cancer more vulnerable to catching Covid-19, and more likely to be badly affected, their vital cancer treatment and check-ups were being rescheduled, or even cancelled, as the NHS struggled to meet demand caused by the virus.
But, as quickly as our world seemed to change, so did Macmillan.
Hundreds of Macmillan nurses were redeployed to provide their trademark care and support on coronavirus wards at NHS hospitals around the country, whilst others continued to provide vital cancer support in a ‘new normal’.
Our teams worked round the clock to set up remote working, to ensure our Support Line and online services were fully operational and to launch critical new services, including our Telephone Buddy service, so that people living with cancer could still talk to us and get help.
We also responded quickly to the anticipated reduction in our income. We made substantial cost savings, developed new virtual fundraising products and launched our first ever emergency appeal, The Forgotten C. Our appeal raised £1.5m and put the issues facing people with cancer on the radar of politicians, the media and the general public.
This Friday also marks Macmillan’s 30th annual Coffee Morning. The single day that truly personifies our organisation’s passion and commitment to helping people with cancer, every year, and we are calling on people to donate whatever they can to help fund our vital support, more urgently than ever before.
I am incredibly proud of the hard work and dedication of all of our Macmillan employees, professionals, partners, supporters and volunteers across the UK, who’ve worked tirelessly, whilst managing the impact of the crisis on their own lives, to help us maintain our support for over 1.9 million people living with cancer each year.
However, in line with other charities across the sector, we are seeing a significant decline in income, as a result of restrictions on our activities and a struggling economy. Despite the determination and commitment of our fundraising teams, our voluntary income could be down by as much as £175 million by the end of 2022. It’s clear we need to make further savings so that we can protect our critical cancer services, such as Macmillan nurses and the Macmillan support phone line.
I am deeply saddened to announce that we will be starting a consultation process on 5th October and propose to make 310 redundancies.
Our people are at the heart of everything we do, but this is the only way we can meet the needs of people living with cancer now and in the future. We are committed to ensuring that this is managed equitably and fairly, and that all impacted colleagues are treated with compassion and care.
The past six months have been some of the hardest our organisation has ever faced. To say that today is the darkest day of my career is no exaggeration. I am truly devastated to have to do this, and it is not a decision we have taken lightly.
People living with cancer need our services more than ever. We don’t know for definite how coronavirus will continue to impact people with cancer, the NHS or Macmillan, but we do know that we need to take action now in order to step up to the challenges we face, so that Macmillan can continue to help people living with cancer live life as fully as they can.
