Living with Cancer Employer Collaborative - Roundtable Events

DHSC will be hosting two virtual roundtable events, led by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health Innovation, on the “Living with Cancer” agenda to discuss how employers and other organisations can better support people to remain in or return to work following a cancer diagnosis and treatment, with a particular focus on the challenges faced by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and spreading best practice across sectors of the economy. The roundtables will take place on: • Tuesday, 27th October 2026, 09:30-10:30 GMT • Tuesday, 3rd November 2026, 09:30-10:30 GMT To register your organisation’s interest in one of these events, please complete the following registration form by Tuesday, 20th October 2026 at 11:59 pm: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=... Attendance is restricted to one person per organisation.

The National Cancer Plan for England recognises the impact that cancer can have on people’s working lives and sets out an ambition to work with employers and impact economy investors to raise awareness of effective interventions, scale good practice and make support more accessible. Too many people are forced to stop working due to cancer.

Around 830,000 working age people are living with cancer in England. Cancer can have a significant impact on people’s finances and ability to remain in work: people hospitalised with cancer face nearly £5,000 in lost income, while patients lose an average of 75 days of work across their pathway.

People living with cancer are not always able to access interventions that are known to be useful. Through engagement on the National Cancer Plan, we have heard charities, larger companies and practitioners already know which interventions can help people living with cancer to remain in and return to work.

However, some sectors of the economy still find it difficult to proactively offer support due to a lack of awareness or easily accessible tools. These challenges are often faced by sectors of the economy which account for a large share of employment, including SMEs.

DHSC is therefore seeking to work with purpose-driven businesses, charities and the impact economy to help raise awareness, scale effective interventions and make them more accessible. The Ministerial roundtables will provide an opportunity to hear from organisations about existing approaches, the challenges they face and where collaboration between different organisations could help scale effective support.