Macmillan Money & More Launches Across London to Support People Affected by Cancer
Macmillan Money & More in London is led by Toynbee Hall and delivered through the Debt Free Advice partnership. The service provides free and confidential support for people diagnosed with cancer, people having treatment, those recovering after treatment, people receiving palliative or end-of-life care, carers, family members and those closest to someone affected by cancer.
The service launched on 1 June 2026 and is available by telephone, online, video appointment and, where needed and available, face-to-face through local advice partners and healthcare settings across London.
People can contact the service directly or be referred by healthcare teams, Macmillan professionals, social prescribers, GP practices, hospital teams and community organisations.
A cancer diagnosis can create significant financial challenges. Income may reduce while household costs increase, leaving many people navigating welfare benefits, employment changes, utility bills, housing costs and other financial pressures alongside treatment and recovery.
Macmillan Money & More in London has been designed to make support easier to access, earlier, and in the places where people already receive care.
The service can help with:
- Benefits and financial support checks
- Help with benefit claims, renewals and applications
- Support gathering evidence and completing forms
- Travel and utility cost support
- DWP and local authority issues
- Benefit decisions and appeals
- Wider money worries linked to cancer, including debt, bills, housing costs and changes to income
The launch builds on more than 20 years of experience delivering advice through Debt Free Advice, London’s free debt and money advice partnership.
Toynbee Hall will lead and coordinate the service, providing central triage, quality assurance, technology, data and partnership infrastructure. Support will be delivered by community-based organisations across London, including existing Debt Free Advice partners alongside specialist delivery organisations.
Matt Dronfield, Director of Advice Services at Toynbee Hall, said:
“A cancer diagnosis can affect someone’s money as well as their health. Income can fall suddenly, costs can rise, and people can find themselves trying to navigate benefits, forms, bills and financial decisions at one of the most difficult moments of their lives.
Macmillan Money & More in London is about making that support easier to access, earlier, and in the places where people already receive care.
Over the past 20 years, Toynbee Hall has developed a partnership model through Debt Free Advice that combines trusted local delivery with shared infrastructure, technology, quality assurance and coordination. Macmillan Money & More builds on that learning while creating a distinct service designed specifically around the needs of people affected by cancer.
This is a genuinely collaborative model. Community-based organisations will continue delivering trusted support locally, while Toynbee Hall provides the shared systems, triage and infrastructure that help the service operate consistently across London.
We are particularly excited about adapting Video Advice Kiosks and bedside access for healthcare settings, helping people access welfare benefits and financial support without having to navigate multiple services at a time when they may already be under huge pressure.”
Heather McLean, Director of Communities and System Partnerships at Macmillan Cancer Support, said:
“This is a really exciting step forward in Macmillan’s work to start a national movement to make cancer care fairer and to bring care and support closer to home, where people need it the most.
Cancer can turn people’s lives upside down – their relationships, work, finances and even the future they may have imagined for themselves. And that is why we are so pleased to be working with partners like Toynbee Hall, in every area of the UK.
We believe it is through community partnerships such as this that we can help people living with cancer to get back just a little bit of control, and to manage all the different impacts that cancer might be having in their lives.”
The launch comes alongside new research commissioned by Debt Free Advice which found that finances and debt are among the hardest issues for people to talk openly about. The findings highlight the importance of making practical support easy to access before money worries escalate.
Looking ahead, Toynbee Hall is exploring how its award-winning Video Advice Kiosk technology can be adapted for healthcare settings, including hospital-based kiosks and secure bedside access, helping people receive support while attending appointments, undergoing treatment or recovering in hospital.
For more information about Macmillan Money & More in London, call 0800 808 5871 or visit www.debtfreeadvice.com/macmillan.
