I wish I’d known I could have asked the BBC for paid time off before working through my chemotherapy
WHEN I gave evidence to a House of Commons Select Committee about having to work through cancer treatment because I wasn’t entitled to sick pay, I had no idea of the reaction it would cause. Apart from being splashed over the front pages of two newspapers, I was bombarded with messages thanking me for speaking out by others who had found themselves in a similar position. Many of them – like me – were working on freelance contracts. Indeed, since the financial crash of 2008, more people than ever are working on a self-employed basis.
Don’t get me wrong, lots of people are happy being freelance. It’s great being your own boss. You can work from home in your pyjamas, manage your own hours and balance your work with family life. But there are downsides.
And, as I discovered, if you get sick, you can find yourself without a safety net.
Even for those in full-time employment, a cancer diagnosis drops a bomb on your life. Suddenly, uncertainty looms over everything. Advances in medicine mean that most of us will survive. But how will you cope with the next few months, or possibly years, of treatment?
Earlier this year Macmillan Cancer Support reported an unprecedented demand for their work support helpline, a 74 per cent increase over two years in calls from cancer patients facing difficulties at work. These ranged from people wanting advice on their rights to cases of people losing their jobs after being diagnosed.
‘I think financial pressures are increasing on cancer patients because jobs are not as secure as they were,’ says Dr Caroline Hoffman, of the Breast Cancer Haven, a charity that supports women through their treatment.
‘I have had patients who were well-off and in good jobs, but then ran out of money. There are small grants available from foundations and charities but often people are too exhausted to go through the paperwork.’
It’s now estimated one in two of us will get cancer at some point in our lifetime. There are 890,000 people of working age with the disease in the UK. No wonder my testimony in Parliament struck a nerve. There are lots of us.
I belong to a WhatsApp Group of BBC freelancers. Not long ago someone posted a very sad message. They’d been diagnosed with cancer and were frightened they wouldn’t be able to work during treatment and therefore wouldn’t be able to pay their rent. ‘I’m seriously thinking about moving back in with my parents,’ she wrote. ‘Not sure what to tell my boss.’
This got me thinking about what I’d learnt since my breast cancer diagnosis in May 2016.
Every cancer patient is different. There are many types of cancer, many types of treatment and everyone reacts differently.
As it turned out I was able to work through my therapy, albeit on a part-time basis. I was partly driven by financial necessity, but that wasn’t the only reason – I wanted to carry on my life as normally as possible.
With all this in mind, here is what I think every cancer patient, newly diagnosed or not, needs to know about navigating this minefield…
TALK TO YOUR DOCTORS ABOUT WORK
IF YOUR cancer can be dealt with by an operation and radiotherapy, you shouldn’t have to take more than a few weeks off. Ask your doctor for a letter explaining how much time you need. If you have to undergo chemotherapy, the process can take between six months and a year. However, many, like me, are able to work when they’re doing chemo.
The first thing my oncologist, Professor Paul Ellis, asked me was whether I enjoyed my job and wanted to carry on working. This is important because if you hate your job and are entitled to sick pay, why not take six months off and use the time to reassess your life?
Remember, being unhappy at work is bad for your health. Prof Ellis says: ‘I can’t prove scientifi- cally that working is good for cancer patients. Some of my colleagues automatically assume it means six months off but there is a significant group of patients for whom working is like therapy. I’d say 50 per cent of my patients carry on, but it’s very individual.’
I’m lucky. I love my job and to enable me to carry on presenting my radio show on a weekly basis, Prof Ellis prescribed a course of weekly chemo. Every Friday morning for four months, I would go to a clinic where for several hours a drug called Taxol was pumped into my veins. Over the weekend I was very tired and suffered the occasional flu-like symptoms, but by Tuesday I was well enough to go back to the office for three days.
Chemo is often administered in three- week cycles, leaving you feeling ill for the first week but OK for the following fortnight. The key is to arrange your work schedule around it. You will get medication, including steroids and anti-nausea pills, to deal with the side effects.
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS…
IF YOU work, and aren’t selfemployed, you are entitled to Statu- tory Sick Pay (SSP). That’s £92.05 a week for up to 28 weeks. Your employer may well pay more for a while but they can’t pay less.
The Equality Act makes it unlawful for an employer to treat anyone less favourably because of disability. A person with cancer is legally classed as disabled, so their employers are required to make ‘reasonable adjustments’.
Macmillan Cancer Care found that half of the people they surveyed did not know employers have a legal duty to give them time off for medical appointments and offer flexible working hours.
Macmillan spokesman Liz Egan said: ‘While company policies on sick pay will differ depending on contracts, employers should follow good practice by being flexible. This a reasonable expectation, especially if someone has been working for a long time.’
Even if your employer says you are self-employed, you might be classed as a ‘worker’ – you may not have a contract, but are sort of a ‘perma-temp’ – and entitled to sick pay, and are also protected by the Equality Act. Contact Citizens Advice (citizensadvice.org.uk) to check if this applies to you.
... AND GET GOOD ADVICE
THOSE who are truly freelance don’t get SSP, but may get Employment and Support Allowance, or Universal Credit, depending on where you live. This varies accordi ng to i ncome and how much National Insurance you paid.
Income might shrink while you’re off work, so you may be eligible to claim other benefits, including housing benefit. If you need care, or mobility assistance, you may be eligible for Personal Independence Payments (the new name for disability living allowance), which can be up to £145 a week.
The Government website, gov.uk, details all of this and is fairly easy to follow, while Macmillan have a dedicated helpline (0808 808 0000) with experts in navigating the benefits system on hand. They are also able to provide short- term grants, so ask about this.
It may also help to get some advice from a financial adviser. Unbiased (unbiased.co.uk) are recommended by Macmillan, and can help match you with a suitable adviser in your area. If you’re self-employed but have a regular employer, start a conversation with them: I now regret not asking the BBC for sick pay. I assumed, because I was freelance and had no legal entitlement, there was no point.
But after I gave evidence to the Parliamentary Select Committee, my head of department said I could have asked for financial aid on a discretionary basis. I think I would have carried on working anyway but knowing t hat would have relieved my financial worries.
BE OPEN WITH COLLEAGUES ... AND YOUR BOSS
SOME people will react awkwardly when you tell them you have cancer (I had someone burst into tears) but it is not something to be embarrassed about. It’s no longer a death sentence. Reassure your colleagues you have no plans to shuffle off this mortal coil any time soon.
Talking about your diagnosis and treatment means your team will be better able to support you.
I present a live radio show – Front Row covers the arts and media – so my anxiety was around the impact chemo would have on my memory. The drugs can give you what doctors refer to as ‘brain
fog’. Be aware of this if you’re selfemployed and employers rely on you to deliver a service. You might have customers, suppliers or employees. It can help if they know about your illness – you might need longer deadlines, for example.
My nightmare was my mind going blank with a million people listening to me. I asked my editor to take me off the air if I started talking nonsense.
TAKE INSPIRATION FROM FELLOW SUFFERERS
GETTING cancer is like joining a club. Other sufferers tend to give the best advice on how to get through it. My BBC colleague, Nick Robinson, who presents the Today programme on Radio 4, was diagnosed with cancer in the leadup to the 2015 Election.
He was the BBC’s political editor, so the timing was bad. He told me: ‘I still have the memo in which I told the BBC I intended to get back to work as soon as possible.
‘I was even blogging while doing chemo. It made me feel as if the cancer hadn’t beaten me.’
Soon after his diagnosis, Nick went to Downing Street to interview the then Prime Minister, David Cameron. As Nick arrived, he was surprised to be stopped and taken into the garden by one of Mr Cameron’s top officials, senior civil servant Chris Martin, who also had cancer and later died. Nick said: ‘He wanted to give me a pep talk, to tell me how to live through it but also to ignore those who thought I was mad to work as it kept him sane. He was my inspiration.’
Nick passed on the same advice to former Cabinet Secretary Jeremy Heywood, who died in November, aged 56. When Heywood was diagnosed, Nick posted a tweet about the benefits of working through cancer, which he now regrets.
‘People said it was all very well for me and Jeremy in well-paid, public-sector jobs, but what about people doing manual jobs, or who hated their work? That taught me a lesson. One size doesn’t fit all. People should be given the option.’
BE WARY OF SOCIAL MEDIA
I KNOW there is a trend for sharing experiences of illness on social media. But in my experience, it is not the best place to discuss cancer. People like to give unsolicited advice which isn’t always helpful.
I had s ome upsetting posts directed at me after I gave evidence to the House of Commons Select Committee. One man berated me for not taking out income protection insurance when I went freelance. For the record, I tried to take out a policy but was refused due to my medical history and the fact insurers apparently classify journalism as a ‘high risk profession’.
SEEK SUPPORT
MY LOCAL hospital referred me to a wonderful place called The Breast Cancer Haven, which offers free support, information and complementary therapies to anyone affected emotionally or physically by breast cancer.
I attended workshops on diet and sleep, met fellow sufferers and had acupuncture to relieve the side effects of my chemo. They also offer counselling and have a welfare, benefits and money adviser.
GET A GOOD WIG
THIS may sound trivial and is not relevant to everyone, but if you are going to carry on working, looking as normal as possible is important for your self-confidence. Spend as much as you can on a good wig, preferably one made from real hair. It can cost £1,000 but I wore mine for 18 months and if you’re self-employed you can claim it as an expense against tax.