Macmillan Cancer Support cut almost a quarter of its staff last year as it closed some services, the charity has confirmed, amid what it has described as a “tough financial climate”.
The charity confirmed that a total of 413 of its staff took redundancy overall in 2024, reducing the organisation’s size by 26%.
Civil Society previously reported that Macmillan had cut an additional 151 jobs at the end of last year as part of a restructure, after first making 156 redundancies earlier in the year in the hope of saving approximately £7m.
The charity said at the time that it was forced to make difficult decisions as the charity’s income wasn’t “keeping pace” with growing demand for its services and a “challenging financial environment”.
Guardian investigation raised questions over decisions
A Guardian investigation has since raised questions about what made the charity, which is the most popular in the UK according to YouGov, take the course of action that it has.
Among the investigation’s key findings were that Macmillan had spent more than it raised over the last six years.
It also found that in 2023, spending on wages and salaries surged to £80m, up by 18% from £68m in just 12 months.
However, the charity maintains tough financial climate has forced it to make major cuts to its workforce and services to secure its long-term financial sustainability.
Macmillan remains one of the UK’s most successful fundraisers, with income from donations totalling £117m in 2023.
However, in the same year, donations failed to match the growing costs and demand for cancer support: the most recent annual figures show the charity’s £232m income was dwarfed by £265m spending.
Macmillan: ‘We had to make the difficult decision to reduce organisation by 26%’
A Macmillan spokesperson said that the charity, like many others, has felt the impact of the “tough financial climate, and through 2024, we made changes to help us focus on where we can have the greatest impact, and to secure our long-term financial sustainability”.
The spokesperson added: “239 people took voluntary redundancy, and sadly we had to make a further 174 of our valued colleagues redundant.
“However we were able to find alternative roles for 831 of the colleagues who were initially at risk of redundancy.
"The number of people with cancer is growing and our ambition is to reach more of them. To do that with less money and a smaller team, we must focus on developing the services which we can scale up to meet growing need.”
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