Living with Cancer Employer Collaborative - Roundtable Events

Background

The National Cancer Plan for England (www.gov.uk/government/publicati… ↗) sets out the government’s long-term goal to deliver world-class cancer care. Aiming to transform care and outcomes by 2035, the plan includes measures to improve experiences, contribute to growth and help people with the cost of living. As part of this, DHSC is looking to reduce the impact of cancer on people’s working lives, boost employer awareness of cancer as a long-term condition, and support participating employers to improve their retention and absence rates among employees with cancer.

Action 8b, Chapter 4 of the National Cancer Plan commits to establish an employer collaborative with leading private and public sector employers, the Government’s Joint Work and Health Directorate, cancer charities and clinicians to help people stay in or return successfully to work after a cancer diagnosis. The Collaborative complements the Government’s wider ambitions on work and health including the Keep Britain Working Review, who we have consulted to design this initiative, and aims to facilitate employers to better retain and support employees affected by cancer. This collaborative will not only codify best practice – but will prove an incentive for employers doing better, more consistently.

The desired outcomes are to:

• reduce the impact of cancer on a person’s working life,
• boost employer awareness of cancer as a long-term condition,
• support participating employers to improve their retention and absence rates among employees with cancer, with a focus on SMEs.

Roundtables

The roundtables will take place on:

• Tuesday, 27th October 2026, 15:30-16:30 GMT
• Tuesday, 3rd November 2026, 09:30-10:30 GMT

The first roundtable will be led by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health Innovation; the second roundtable will be led by DHSC officials.

Please complete the following registration form by Tuesday, 20th October 2026 at 11:59 pm if your organisation wishes to attend:

forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx ↗

Both roundtables will cover the same agenda, so participants should only attend one. Each session will include an introduction, with an overview from DHSC of the National Cancer Plan commitment and the challenges we are seeking to address. There will then be a facilitated discussion.

We’d particularly welcome views and evidence on:

• the challenges employers, particularly SMEs, face in supporting people to remain in or return to work following a cancer diagnosis and treatment;
• existing interventions, resources and examples of good practice that could be scaled or made more accessible;
• how employers and other organisations could work together to improve awareness and access to effective support; and
• how DHSC should approach future collaboration in this area.

Eligibility and attendance

Both sessions will be virtual, hosted on Microsoft Teams. DHSC will send out Teams invites to the events after the registration window has closed.

Attendees must be from:

• a public-sector organisation,
• a private-sector organisation,
• a charity, voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE),
• a healthcare provider,
• a researcher/practitioner,
• or another organisation with an interest in supporting people affected by cancer to remain in or return to work.

Participants should attend only one roundtable. If interest exceeds the capacity of around 30 attendees per event, DHSC may not be able to invite every eligible organisation. In that case, DHSC will select participants to achieve a balanced mix of organisation types at each roundtable. DHSC may adjust the number or timing of roundtables depending on demand.

Accompanying questionnaire

Alongside the two roundtables, DHSC also invites organisations to complete the following questionnaire:

forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx ↗

The questionnaire is an opportunity to present views and evidence on the challenges people affected by cancer and employers face in relation to employment during and after treatment, existing support and examples of good practice, and opportunities for future collaboration. This questionnaire is optional. You may complete this questionnaire whether or not you are attending a roundtable. You may complete it before or after attending a roundtable. Responses may help inform the roundtable discussion, broader stakeholder engagement activity, and DHSC’s understanding of the issues. All information provided will be kept confidential. Only aggregated and anonymised insights may be shared wider within government.

The deadline for the questionnaire is Tuesday, 10th November 2026, at 11:59 pm.

Additional information

Should any opportunities for collaboration arise following this initial market consultation, DHSC will ensure these are advertised openly for all interested organisations.

There is no planned procurement activity relating to the publication of this preliminary market engagement notice. For avoidance of doubt, this is not a call for competition or a procurement, and therefore it has been assigned a monetary payment value of £0. The sole purpose of this event is to initiate a discussion with organisations interested in addressing the issues experienced by people living with cancer.

If you have any questions about this market engagement or experience any challenges in registering for the event, please contact livingwithcancer@dhsc.gov.uk