Wokingham’s Liberal Democrat MP, Clive Jones, has secured a Westminster Hall debate to discuss England’s broken welfare system for children and young people with cancer.
Later today (Wednesday) he will say that cancer has a significant financial impact on children and young people with cancer, and their families.
According to research from Young Lives vs. Cancer, a cancer diagnosis will raise bills by £700 every month on average, and lead to an average loss of annual household income of over £6,000.
Despite this cost, to make an application for disability benefits, a young cancer patient will be subject to a 3-month waiting period before they can become eligible to apply for benefits.
They are then subject to delays of upwards of 20 weeks for the processing of their benefits application.
Tragically, some young cancer patients die before they or their family receive their first payment.
Clive will call on the government to make young cancer patients eligible for disability benefits from day one of their diagnosis.
During the debate, he will say: “To be told, at the start of this journey through Hell, patients and families need to wait 3 months before applying for vitally needed funds is simply inexplicable.
“The evidence shows the costs are immediate, and yet they are deprived of support they urgently needs.
“How the government expects people to manage with these extra costs is beyond me.”
He will ask the minister to consider using medical diagnosis to allow children and young people with cancer to apply for benefits as soon as their diagnosis is confirmed.
The debate can be viewed on the Parliament Live website.
