Ways to earn extra money during chemo and financial hardship

[Daffodils88]

Our family business collapsed just before my cancer diagnosis. We have no savings & have re-payment agreements with utilities companies. My husband’s on minimum wage, I’m on less than national average, we have a lodger. MacMillan have done our benefits calculation &
I’m not eligible for anything. My housing association have just put our charge up by £2,400 a year & we’ve had council tax rises etc. I can’t move house while I’m having treatment. Please does anyone have any suggestions on how I can bring in some extra money while I’m having chemo & still working? I’m wondering if there’s any paid research for cancer patients? The financial stress of loosing our home is terrifying & I feel we’re at the last chance saloon.

My heart goes out to you but I don’t think research will be the answer. You can ask your Dr about any relevant studies but a) there may not be any you are suitable for and b) it is considered unethical for the payments to be very large. They are usually just supposed to cover ‘expenses’ and won’t be much at all.

You may be eligible for pip -regardless of you working and earning. This may also then qualify you for iirc council tax reduction.
How on Earth are you managing to work?
So sorry, it’s awful having to deal with all that extra worry on top of going through cancer and the awful side effects of treatment.

Cashback.co.uk

I’m sure I saw an advert on social media a few days ago offering a couple of hundred pounds to take part in some online cancer related research. It was on the same day as my last chemo & I didn’t save the page. Do you have any ideas what other people do to make ends meet?

I called MacMillan & went through my income with them & they said I’m not eligible for any pip. I’ve tried applying online separately as well.
The cost of taxis to get to hospital & wheelchair hire is adding to the cost & everything feels like it’s spiralling out of control.
I’m working from home around my chemo sessions & using up all my sick leave & annual leave.
Cancer has become another job I have to do on top of working full time, looking after the kids, being a landlady & everything else. I’m broken & can’t seem to get out of this. I’m not eligible for any financial support, not even a bus pass for the constant hospital appointments.

PIP isn’t means tested. I think they gave you bad advice there . If you apply, base your answers on your worst day. It’s a harsh form to complete but worth a go.

if your DH is having to help you, they could apply for carers allowance.

You should not be paying for a wheelchair, anyone from the team looking after you can refer for that.

I’m sorry you’re going through all this - my heart goes out to you. I don’t know if they’ll be able to help, but there’s a charity called Acts 435. It’s a
Christian charity, but you don’t need to be Christian to get help from them. They make small financial grants (up to £200, I think) for specific things for people in need. They might cover something like a bus pass. You’d need to find your local participating church and contact them. There’s a list on this webpage of partner churches xx

https://www.acts435.org.uk/partners/

I’m so sorry you are going through this. I was diagnosed in late 2024 and in very similar circumstances we closed our family business just at the point where I was diagnosed. My husband got a minimum wage job so he could be close to home and do school runs, but I was unable to find anything and was so unwell I couldn’t really have worked anyway. Like you McMillan said we weren’t eligible for any help, and it was incredibly stressful.

i don’t know if I recommend it, but we ended up taking out a massive loan to tide us over - we paid the monthly repayments out of the money we borrowed. I went back to work in November 2025, which was probably much sooner than I should have (I have been hospitalised 3 times since then!) and we are now digging ourselves out of huge debt, but it enabled us to get through that period and keep things as stable and stress free as possible at home while I was having treatment.

I found following some of the debt free Instagram accounts for money making ideas quite helpful. Surveys, market research, cash back and being paid to game helped towards the odd £20-40 which I only withdrew if we needed something specific,

Good luck op, I wish you health and I hope you come up with a plan x

Have you got any life cover?
I would also speak to your GP about making some referrals to various agencies

• you may be eligable for hospital transport
• NRS contract equipment via local nhs trusts (or they do round here there might be other companies local to you)
• GP surgeries can help with food bank referrals
• community larders another option
• ESA might be worth claiming but I’d be appealing the PIP application if it’s been declined,
• if not declined out the form in ASAP
• universal credit; go on entitled to and put all your details in there see what it says.

im sorry you’re in this situation,
i hope you can sort something out x

https://www.againstbreastcancer.org.uk/our-research/take-part-in-a-research-study#:~:text=%F0%9F%92%A1We%2520are%2520looking%2520for,contact%2520email%[email protected]

You don’t say what kind of cancer. These are Brest cancer. One has £60 for answering a survey. I think it’s that order of cash that a research study might pay not a substantial amount but it’s something

Also agree PIP is non means tested and you can apply if you have had the condition for more than 3 months. You should be eligible for hospital transport for chemo appts.

Apply for PIP.

Pip . Have you applied .?

First of all talk to your utilities companies, you would be surprised how they can help.

I'm with Severn Trent for water and they reduced my payments, basically as long as I pay they match my payment.

They also have links to a couple of charities, these are more concerned with providing 'things' rather than financial help e.g. I recently got a washer dryer delivered to me and installed FOC.

There are various charitable trusts that fund specific things. I used to apply when I was a student, in the student category but there are others. Google, 'grant making trusts' and there will be a huge paper copy in your nearest reference library.

Have you looked at reducing to part time and the perhaps you’ll qualify for UC? That comes with lots of other benefits. If they are counting your lodger as income that may also be affecting any benefits you could be entitled to and given it’s extra stress might be worth looking at getting rid?

Try this charity: https://www.lightningreach.org/application-portal

As well as Lightning Reach linked above try the Turn2Us grants checking tool. There are various charities that give hardship grants, may be related to circumstances, past professions, and I’m sure there must be some that help with cancer treatment costs.

Sorry you are having to go through all of this at once.

I also second what OP have said. PIP isn’t based on your income so you can get it if you’re eligible and your specialist nurse should be able to help
fill it out with you if you’re struggling.

i applied for pip as my sick pay is not great at all and terrified I wouldn’t be able to survive chemo and working. I am still currently juggling chemo, 2 kids under 3 and working BUT my PIP got approved so it’s something to fall on when I need it.

Change your bank account and get switching bonus. Some offer £200 for switching. If both you and DH do this it would be £400.

I'm an advisor ( formerly a macmillan one). Local councils are currently opening up a fund called the crisis and resilience fund which is replacing the household support fund but has different criteria to support people with a one off payment where someone has had a financial crisis due to health/ separation/ loss of job etc .It may be worth exploring with your local authority as there is a health criteria which considers extra costs due to health crisis. I am currently trying to help a family where both have had a cancer diagnosis and this is what I am suggesting to them this week after everything else has been exhausted and PIP claims taking ages. The scheme in my area is just opening up next week, so apply early. It's a shame Macmillan stopped the Macmillan grants which were helpful in this situation.

Some hospitals have volunteer run patient transport for chemo treatment.

PIP is based on whether someone meets the descriptors for the majority of the time so over 50%. The assessors explore this quite. thoroughly in my experience. So even if describing a worst day on the form, if a worse day only happens a few times a month it isn't going to score you any points unfortunately.
Op if you say you have applied online for PIP- are you still waiting for that decision? Or has it been declined ? If declined you can ask for them to look at it again and take to appeal if necessary. I would play about with the calculator to see if reducing hours would work and you would get some UC. When you are going through chemo you can automatically get the LCWRA element included as long as earnings are low enough to be referred for a work capability assessment.

im sorry you’re going through this OP but ind have to ask is your DH asking people how he can earn extra money….. why can’t he take on a second or third job? Why does it have to be you?

Sorry tried to edit. With UC if you do get PIP awarded, it doesn't matter what your earnings are you can be referred for a work capability assessment regardless or you could look at ESA if you need to drop hours significantly. Please don't push yourself working full time whilst going through chemo.

Contact the Macmillan helpline