Young Lives vs Cancer response to Scottish Budget 2026 to 2027

The Scottish Government’s latest Budget (announced on 13 January) sees the Young Patients Family Fund budget reduce by almost £2million since its launch, to £3.2 million for 2026-27.  While 71% of young people and families across Scotland struggle to face the cost of travel to treatment, Young Lives vs Cancer says this news comes at a time when access to the Fund should be expanding to support all young cancer patients and their families in Scotland. 

Young Lives vs Cancer’s research shows families in Scotland face around £250 a month on average in travel costs and travel 400 miles every month to access cancer treatment. The charity found seven in 10 young people and families are left struggling to face these costs, with one in 10 missing or delaying treatment. 

While the Young Patients Family Fund currently provides some support, it is limited to inpatients under 18. Day patients are excluded, despite most cancer care happening on a day patient basis requiring regular travel back and forth, and 18–25-year-olds making the same journeys to the same specialist cancer centres cannot access the Fund at all. 

When the Young Patients Family Fund was introduced in 2021, the budget was £5 million. The announcement shows the budget has dropped over the past four years by £1.8 million overall to £3.2 million, while expenditure has risen every single year on record, and with clear demand for more people to have access to the vital support the Fund provides. 

Young Lives vs Cancer’s Associate Director of Policy, Sonia Malik, responds to the announcement: “We are concerned about yet another cut to the Young Patients Family Fund by the Scottish Government, especially alongside the increasing demand for its support for children and young people with cancer and their families. We have been campaigning for the Fund to expand its eligibility criteria to help support more children, young people and families who need support across Scotland, including cancer day patients and over 18s, yet the Fund has been seen as a source of financial saving in the new budget. 

“Every year, around 320 children and young people in Scotland hear the lifechanging words: ‘You have cancer.’ In a £67.6 billion budget, young people with cancer and families need the Government to provide the vital financial support they need to get to cancer treatment. This is why Young Lives vs Cancer have been calling for the Fund’s eligibility criteria to be expanded, which could have been achieved within the Fund’s historic budget. Instead of continuing to reduce the Fund’s budget, Scottish Government could choose to help more children, young people and families going through the worst.”  

Young Lives vs Cancer recently announced its Holyrood manifesto ahead of the elections in May, which calls on all political parties to commit to expanding the Young Patients Family Fund eligibility criteria, alongside other key commitments. 

Sonia says: “While we were happy to see positive announcements in the latest Scottish Government Budget in the inflationary uplifts for social security payments, a commitment to increase the Scottish Child Payment to £40 per week next year, and an increase to the Health and Social Care Budget, financial support to access essential healthcare and manage the additional costs of living with cancer isn’t available to all who need it, and those who can access it report that it falls far short of covering their costs. 

“Children and young people with cancer and their families need the Scottish Government to reassess their commitment within the budget and make sure they are providing the vital support they need.” 

The full breakdown of the cuts to the Young Patient Family Fund in Scottish Government’s year on year budget: