More than 40 percent of employers do not provide any support or information to employees with cancer, despite the fact that the illness casts its shadow on the vast majority of workplaces, according to new research published today by an alliance of employer groups and a cancer charity.

The research is accompanied by new practical guidance to help employers to manage the estimated 90,000 people of working age who receive a cancer diagnosis each year, and support them during their treatment and recuperation, as well as in their rehabilitation and return-to-work.

Key findings from today's report, produced jointly by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), Cancerbackup and the Working with Cancer group, include:

-- Two thirds of employers say they do not provide any training for managers to support employees with cancer

-- More than 40% of employers do not provide any support or information to employees with cancer, and a further 36% of respondents did not know if such information or support was provided

-- More than one in five employers (22%) are not aware that the Disability Discrimination Act now classes cancer as a disability

-- Nearly three-quarters (73%) of employers do not have a formal policy in place for managing employees affected by cancer.

More than half a million people in the UK under the age of 65 have been diagnosed with cancer and many will remain in work during treatment, or seek to return to work after treatment. With new treatments being developed all the time, this figure is likely to increase. The guidance launched today aims to provide employers, human resources and line managers with the tools to ensure that staff feel respected and informed throughout their cancer journey. The guidance includes:

-- First steps - meeting with the employee
-- Returning to work
-- Disability caused by cancer
-- Disability Discrimination act
-- A template cancer policy

The research, based on a survey of 219 employers, employing a total of over 800,000 people, and guidance for employers, was inspired by the Working with Cancer group, a group of leading human resources professionals, all of whom were diagnosed with cancer, who on returning to work were shocked at the lack of support for staff affected by cancer and decided to campaign to raise awareness amongst employers.

Barbara Wilson, spokesperson for the Working with Cancer group and Head of Resourcing and Development at Schroders, said:

"While I was being treated for cancer, I found I was surrounded by booklets to help me cope with the illness and the treatments, how to tell my children and so on. But there was nothing to help me deal with my employers, or to help them deal with me. The guidance we're unveiling today will help employers to understand how to manage employees working with cancer, to provide appropriate information and support to their colleagues, and to help the employee with cancer keep working or return successfully to work after treatment."

Ben Willmott, Employee Relations Adviser at the CIPD, said:

"Employers that fail to provide support and advice to those diagnosed with cancer run the risk of losing talented and experienced employees who would otherwise continue to make a contribution to the organisation. At the extreme, employers could also find that insufficient support and unsympathetic attitudes leave them open to claims under the DDA - a fact that our survey shows one in five employers are unaware of."

"Cancer can be both physically and emotionally extremely draining, which is why it is important that people feel supported by their employers," says Joanne Rule Cancerbackup, Chief Executive. "Cancerbackup's research into people's experience of work and cancer found that many people are not offered any information about their statutory rights by employers nor offered flexible working arrangements to fit around treatment and returning to work. As a result many people don't return to work, even though they want to."

Download Working with Cancer Survey Results (PDF 416.51 Kb)

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