Charities are always busy, but this year has been an especially busy one for CCLG.
Early in the year, we rebranded to CCLG: The Children & Young People’s Cancer Association, with new visuals and a new website. The updated name and brand, focusing on collaboration and the expertise of our members to drive progress, reinforces our vision for better outcomes, not just for children, but for teenagers and young people too.
In March, we held our biggest ever Annual Conference, bringing together over 700 experts from across the UK to learn, share expertise and discuss best practice. The CCLG Annual Conference is one of the biggest events in our calendar and we are always proud to support the incredible healthcare professionals, researchers and allied professionals who work so hard for young people with cancer.
CCLG's Annual Conference 2025
We again saw a successful PIF tick assessment and accreditation, continuing to be a trusted information provider for young people, their families, and for professionals. This year we supplied over 21,000 publications to hospitals and families, and our total number of booklets and resources has now grown to 110.
Through the CCLG Research Funding Network, we funded 22 new research projects in 2025. We also launched our new research strategy, developed with input from researchers, professionals, survivors and families. This process reinforced our commitment to driving a coordinated approach to CYP research – using our expertise to help maximise the impact of every pound spent.
This year we saw progress with our call for a Children and Young People’s Cancer Plan alongside Young Lives vs Cancer, with the UK government confirming that they will create a National Cancer Plan for England, and that children and young people will be included. We’re also proud to be one of the lead charities in the North Star Cancer Collective, alongside Alike, Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust, Shine Cancer Support and Young Lives vs Cancer.
In May, the Childhood Cancer Diagnosis Study, led by Dr Shaarna Shanmugavadivel, Professor Shalini Ojha and Professor David Walker from the School of Medicine at the University of Nottingham, was published. The study focused on time to diagnosis and found that young people suffering from certain types of cancer, such as bone tumours, are experiencing lengthy times to diagnosis.
Following on from this study, we launched our Child Cancer Smart campaign, an evidence-based awareness campaign to improve early diagnosis of cancer in children and teenagers. The campaign has messages for families and healthcare professionals, emphasising the importance of understanding the patterns of symptoms that can indicate cancer in children and teenagers. The campaign launch was supported by Dr Amir Khan and will be ongoing, with cancer-specific guidelines being launched over the next few years.
Our three-year partnership with World Duty Free (part of Avolta) was renewed for another three years and their support has been incredible – so far they have raised over £130,000 in 2025 and are nearing £400,000 in overall fundraising.
I’d like to say a particular thank you to our Special Named Fund families. We now have over 100 Special Named Funds, who have collectively raised over £450,000 in 2025. Thank you for working with and inspiring your communities to help us create a brighter future for all children and young people.
A huge thanks also goes out to the hundreds of supporters who ran for us, sold pin badges, joined our inaugural Big Hike, or took part in other activities to raise funds and awareness for us this year. We literally cannot do our work without you.
Walkers on our first ever Big Hike event
I’d like to say things will be calmer next year, but I know they won’t be! We’re working on a new organisational strategy, which will set out our ambitions for the future. Our next Annual Conference is already booked for March 2026. And we’ll be developing more opportunities for patients and the public to be involved in research.
We’re looking forward to continuing to work with our charity partners, our corporate partners and our amazing supporters in 2026 to keep driving progress.
Together, we can create brighter futures for children and young people with cancer.
