A year of campaigning progress
Thanks to your help, we’ve made more noise than ever about pancreatic cancer in 2025 and built strong momentum towards change.
Here, our policy and campaigns team share their highlights from a busy year across the UK – and some exciting things to look out for in the new year.
1. We influenced the upcoming Cancer Plan for England
Early in 2025 the UK Government launched a consultation on its new National Cancer Plan for England which will lay out their plans to improve survival of cancer.
Standing alongside our supporters and other charities, we’ve worked hard to ensure the plan transforms outcomes for people with pancreatic cancer and the other less survivable cancers.
Five ways we’re influencing the plan
2. We united with MPs to demand progress
We run the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Less Survivable Cancers, having set it up at the start of the year. This group, which brings together politicians from across the political spectrum, provides a hub to discuss how Parliament can tackle these cancers.
In the spring, the APPG undertook its first inquiry into earlier detection and faster diagnosis of less survivable cancers.
3. We visited every UK parliament to demand early diagnosis
More than 70,000 of you signed our Unite. Diagnose. Save Lives campaign open letters to the heads of all four governments in the UK. So we travelled to Westminster, the Senedd, Holyrood and Stormont, crossing the UK to deliver your message in person.
We were joined on our journey around the UK by our amazing campaigner Isla, who lost her brother to pancreatic cancer. Now, we’re seeing the impact of the campaign.
4. We drove progress on early detection
In June, we worked with the NHS to launch a new initiative to identify people with diabetes who could be at risk of pancreatic cancer.
This project could help improve the early diagnosis of this devastating disease and give more people the chance to receive potentially life-saving treatment.
Read about the diabetes project
5. Our supporters saved the Rare Cancers Bill
Less than 3% of annual UK cancer research spending is invested in pancreatic cancer. But the Rare Cancers Bill – a potential law being debated in Parliament right now – could finally change this.
Thanks to thousands of you who contacted your MP this summer, the Bill was saved from failing in the House of Commons.
The legislation now has the backing of MPs and will be debated by the House of Lords early in the new year.
6. We demonstrated a groundbreaking breath test to MPs
Thanks to your support, we’ve invested over £1 million to take a promising new test for pancreatic cancer to its next stage of research. The breath test analyses the chemicals in a person’s breath to detect potential indicators of pancreatic cancer.
In Autumn we took the test to the Labour Party Conference to demonstrate it to MPs. Thanks to more than 1000 of you contacting your MP, 109 MPs visited our stand – a record-breaking number!
7. We raised our voices in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month
In Scotland, Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) stood alongside us, and fellow charity Pancreatic Cancer Action, to demand progress.
In Wales, we put pancreatic cancer in the spotlight at a special session of the Cross Party Group on Cancer that you helped us secure through our campaign.
The Northern Ireland Assembly put the spotlight on pancreatic cancer too during an debate on cancer services and outcomes.
What’s next?
There’s so much coming up in the first half of next year, and we’ll need your help to keep pancreatic cancer on the agenda.
What’s next in Westminster?
Rare Cancers Bill
2026 could be a game-changing year for research into pancreatic cancer as the Rare Cancers Bill continues to progress through Parliament. The Bill will have its Second Reading in the House of Lords on Friday 16th January, offering a chance for Peers to debate the Bill in detail. We’re hopeful that it will progress quickly through the remaining stages, becoming law in the first few months of the new year. This would be a landmark moment, offering a vital opportunity to deliver greater investment and support for research into pancreatic cancer and other less survivable cancers.
Learn more about the Rare Cancers Bill
Cancer plan for England
We are expecting the National Cancer Plan to be published on World Cancer Day on 4th February. The first new cancer plan in a decade, it will mark a crucial moment to drive real change for pancreatic cancer.
We’re eagerly awaiting its publication and will keep you updated on its details, and its potential impact for those affected by pancreatic cancer. But once the plan is published, our work doesn’t stop there. We will continue to hold the Government to account, ensuring that the plan is effectively implemented.
What's next in Scotland?
This year’s strong influencing work in Scotland was rounded off with a presentation on early diagnosis and research at the Scottish Parliament’s Cross-Party Group on Cancer in December. We used the session to spotlight the concerningly high rates of late diagnoses in Scotland, with Isla poignantly delivering the story of her brother, Tam, to underline the real lives affected by this issue.
The session then looked at some promising work taking place at the University of Glasgow where researchers, funded by us, are aiming to find new ways to spot pancreatic cancer earlier with the help of world-leading technologies.
Turning our attention to the new year, we’re keeping up our Scottish Parliament engagement alongside the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce. In January, we’ll be supporting a parliamentary drop-in event where researchers will share their work to improve outcomes for Scotland’s most challenging cancers with MSPs.
We’ll also be working with the Taskforce to promote its manifesto ahead of the election in May in a bid to get Less Survivable Cancers firmly on the agenda of the next Scottish Government.
What's next in Wales?
We’ve had an action-packed end to 2025 in Wales, topped off with our presentation at the Cross-Party Group on Cancer on opportunities to improve the earlier and faster diagnosis of pancreatic cancer in Wales. The presentation gave an excellent platform for those working within the pancreatic cancer space to voice their opinions on how to best improve outcomes for pancreatic cancer in Wales.
We’re looking forward to building on this momentum as we head into the Senedd Elections this May, where we will continue to make sure pancreatic and the less survivable cancers are at the forefront of each party’s health manifesto. We’ll be focussing on this during the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce drop-in event in January at the Senedd, which will give us a brilliant opportunity to highlight the need for a targeted approach to these cancers pre and post Senedd elections.
What's next in Northern Ireland?
In Northern Ireland, we’re looking forward to January, when we’ll be attending a showcase event in Stormont alongside the Northern Ireland Cancer Charities Coalition. The event will allow us to highlight our work through a meet and greet session, offering MLAs the chance to hear first-hand about what we do as a charity.
We’re also excited to be presenting at the All-Party Group on Cancer later on in March, where we’ll be talking about the importance of early diagnosis: another excellent result of the Unite. Diagnose. Save Lives. campaign!
