Young people with cancer have never needed @TeenageCancer more. Coronavirus has had a huge impact on them, increasing their isolation and amplifying their loneliness which has meant our work is #NeverMoreNeeded (1)

At the heart of everything is the driving determination that we can’t & won’t stop being there for them. I am so proud that, despite the sudden & significant income drop we faced in March, we have maintained all our frontline services & found new ways to reach young people (2)

This is an enormous tribute to the skill and expertise of our teams on the frontline in the NHS and the team in the charity.

Now, to ensure we are there for generations of young people to come, we are proposing changes to the charity’s structures and roles (3)

We love our supporters – despite the extraordinary circumstances, they have continued to be there for young people with cancer. From our legendary corporate partners to our brilliant new Facebook fundraisers, they have gone the extra mile and more. (4)

But the reality is that much of our fundraising relies on face to face activity, physical challenges & events. We predict our 2020 income will be £6m down – that’s better than we thought in April – when we predicted it would be £8.3m down - but it is still devastating drop. (5)

We also anticipate that our income in 2021 will be c£8m lower than we had planned. In the short-term we’ve fundraised hard and found savings where we can. (6)

To keep our services going: we have used the Government’s Furlough scheme which has been a short-term lifeline for us (we furloughed 60% of the team in April); we’ve frozen recruitment & our brilliant charity staff took a voluntary, temporary pay cut. (7)

Thanks to these difficult choices we have been able to weather the initial storm.

But we need to do more than weather the initial storm.

We now have to build back stronger for all the young people with cancer who will need us moving forwards. (8)

The world we live and work in has changed so in addition to cutting costs we also need to adapt to reflect the significant changes to how we fundraise and how young people need our support in this new world. (9)

Our focus is on protecting current frontline delivery & growing innovative services. Young people have never needed us more and we are not cutting back support.

But, this week we have begun consulting with our charity-staff on proposed changes to roles & structures (10)

If implemented, we will become a smaller staff team but also an organisation that is strong and able to face the future. We may become smaller but we will be no less determined or effective.

But right now around a third of the current roles in the charity are at risk. (11)

However, because there are also new roles in the charity as we reshape our work - which at risk team members may apply for or move into – we will do all we can to ensure that the number of colleagues who leave is as low as possible but it could be c25 of our 150 strong team. (12)

This is so hard for all our wonderful team. For all of them their job is not ‘just a job’ - it’s a chance to make a difference to work they care deeply about. They're also people I care deeply about. Kind is one of our values & my promise to them is we will always live it. (13)

I am so proud of them all. They have taken this hard news with grace & kindness - for themselves & their colleagues. Huge thanks to them all - and to all our supporters for the remarkable efforts of the last 6 months - young people with cancer have never needed you more (14)

Cancer in young people isn't stopping - and neither is Teenage Cancer Trust. We can only achieve that with ongoing support and I am so grateful to everyone who supports us. Thank you. (15)

Final thanks go to the team - who a more erudite person than me has described as 'simply fab humans' - they are indeed. It makes my heart heavy that we need to propose these changes and I remain so, so proud of the whole team. (16)

I know this is a long old thread - well done for getting this far - there's a more easy to digest version on our website here (17): https://www.teenagecancertrust.org/about-us/news/we-won't-stop-can't-stop-being-there-for-young-people-with-cancer