Cancer research ‘put back years’ after cuts

CANCER RESEARCH has announced cuts due to the coronavirus hit on fundraising, setting back its work “potentially for many years”.

The UK’S biggest cancer charity, Cancer Research UK (CRUK), has said it is reducing its research portfolio as part of efforts to protect the organisation during the Covid-19 outbreak.

But the charity admitted that this would “set back the cancer research effort within the UK, potentially for many years”. Funding to CRUK’S existing grants and institutes will shrink by up to 10 per cent and its national network of centres will be cut by 20 per cent. The cuts equate to £44 million of its research portfolio across the year.

CRUK had already taken steps to reduce the salaries of its board and is in consultation with staff to make similar reductions or enrol workers on the Government’s furlough scheme.

But it said that was not enough to secure the charity’s future, so it had to make the “difficult” decision to reduce research funding. In a letter to the research community, charity officials said: “These cuts are substantial and will set back the cancer research effort within the UK, potentially for many years. We’ve also taken the decision to postpone any new funding commitments, which means no new research projects will be funded for at least the first half of this year.

“Making funding cuts to our research is the most difficult decision we’ve had to make.” Iain Foulkes, executive director of research and innovation at CRUK, said: “We are hopeful that limiting our spending now will enable us to continue funding life-saving research in the long run.”