If you have cancer, Parliament can be a hard place to work – our new network will help change that
3 min read
I’ve been working in Westminster since early 2013. In that time, I have had three brain cancers and one spine cancer. For each one, I’ve undergone surgery and received radiotherapy.
Parliament is unlike any other workplace in the country. Not only is it a fast-paced and high-pressure environment – it is also structurally unusual. Every MP operates independently. Each office is effectively its own small business – responsible for staff, budgets and welfare – yet there is virtually no central HR function in the way most organisations would recognise. MPs receive no formal training in line management or running an office. The moment the result is declared at the count, they are thrown in at the deep end.
That model works remarkably well most of the time. But when something serious happens, like cancer, its limitations become clear.
Certainly, as Members’ staff, you can feel entirely on your own. Thankfully, my bosses were both thoughtful and supportive when thinking about my welfare, but their approaches were different. There is no obvious ‘go-to’ place for employers or employees to seek advice. There is nowhere staff can openly discuss their experience or even how they feel.
Everyone is well-meaning, but everything is left with you: “What do you want?”, “What will help you get better?”, “Tell us how we can support you.”
The truth is, when you have cancer, you don’t know what you want. You want someone to tell you what to do. You don’t know when you’ll be able to return to work, whether you’ll manage full-time again, or what a phased return should look like. You need someone to anticipate the questions you don’t yet know to ask.
After my most recent diagnosis, I was determined not just to return to work, but to create change by establishing the Parliamentary Working Through Cancer Network.
There are more than 3,500 Members’ staff supporting MPs across the UK. With one in two of us affected by cancer in our lifetime, the case for a structured support system within Parliament is clear.
One of the key foundations of the network will be a buddying system. Members and staff will be able to volunteer either to act as a buddy – offering lived experience and informal support – or to request a buddy if they themselves, or a loved one, are facing a diagnosis. Sometimes what matters most is speaking to someone who understands the uncertainty, the fear and the practical realities.
The network also aims to replicate the success of the Civil Service Working Through Cancer Network, established in 2017. That initiative demonstrated how structured peer support and clear managerial guidance can transform workplace culture around serious illness. Parliament should not lag behind.
Alongside peer support, we are developing practical HR guidance for Members, managers and supervisors, many of whom understandably struggle to navigate employment policies, legal entitlements, sick pay rules and how to manage a phased return to work. By working with the Parliamentary Health and Wellbeing Team, we hope line managers will soon be able to find clear answers to those questions.
This is not just about compassion. It is about responsibility and retention. When staff feel supported during the most difficult period of their lives, they are far more likely to remain in their roles and continue contributing their skills and experience to public service.
When you’re going through treatment, the last thing you should have to think about is whether you’ll be able to pay your bills, how you return to work, or whether life will ever return to normal. Yet those are precisely the questions that run through our minds.
Parliament asks a great deal of those who work within it. The Parliamentary Working Through Cancer Network is about ensuring that, when illness strikes, no one has to navigate that journey alone.
Dan Horrocks is a senior parliamentary assistant
