Health
Children’s and young people’s cancers – the Government must turn momentum into action – Cancer Research UK
In February 2026, the Government published its National Cancer Plan, the first dedicated cancer strategy for England in a decade. With a new administration now responsible for implementing it, we want to make sure the Plan remains a priority and its ambitions are delivered as quickly as possible. In this series, we’re examining several of the Plan’s key themes, and what needs to happen next to translate its commitments into genuine improvements for people affected by cancer.
In this article, Dr Steve John (Project Manager, Children’s and Young People’s Research team) and Dr Laura Danielson (Children’s and Young People’s Research Lead) focus on the need to turn growing policy attention on research into children’s and young people’s cancers into meaningful action through improved clinical trial delivery, stronger collaboration, and a clear long-term research strategy and investment.
In recent years, momentum has been building behind efforts to improve outcomes for children and young people with cancer. This can be evidenced by welcome advances in personalised care and treatment and ambitious collaborations to uncover the unique biology of children’s and young people’s cancers.
This was further underlined by the inclusion of a dedicated chapter in the National Cancer Plan for England, along with the subsequent Rare Cancers Act, which became law in March.
Both signal a welcome shift in attention, but the challenge now is to capitalise on this momentum and deliver real change. We now want to see the Government go further on enabling research and set out clear delivery mechanisms, long-term commitment and sustained investment. Without it, this momentum risks becoming a missed opportunity.
A distinct challenge
Cancer remains the leading cause of death by disease in children and young people over the age of one in the UK. These cancers are biologically distinct from cancers that affect adults and comprise 88 different diseases with unique genetic and clinical characteristics. Their relative rarity and complexity create challenges for researchers, clinicians and policymakers alike. Currently, most children and young people with cancer are treated with drugs that were originally developed for adults. While these save lives, their toxicity leaves many young patients with lifelong side effects. Further progress depends on dedicated research, specialist expertise and approaches tailored to the specific needs of children and young people.
That’s not to say there haven’t been successes. Survival improved significantly between the 1970s and 1990s for some cancers affecting children and young people.
But since then, progress has slowed, and for some cancers, survival still remains very low. This is evidence of a system reaching the limits of what it can deliver without renewed focus and investment.
So, the attention on children’s and young people’s cancers in the National Cancer Plan is welcome and important. It recognises several of the systemic barriers that have long slowed progress, including limited availability, access and visibility to clinical trials and insufficient collaboration across the research ecosystem. These are not new problems, but their persistence highlights the gap between recognising issues and resolving them.
The Plan signals the right direction – but it stops short of outlining a roadmap for how these barriers will be overcome in practice.
Removing the barriers that hold research back
One particularly difficult problem is the lack of opportunities for children and young people with cancer to take part in clinical trials.
In particular, teenagers and young adults remain underrepresented in research, with barriers that range from restrictive eligibility criteria and age limits to logistical and financial challenges. The consequence of this exclusion is clear: the evidence base for using cutting-edge treatments in young people remains limited.
There’s a welcome intent in the National Cancer Plan to rectify this, by committing to removing arbitrary age limits and supporting international trials. But exact implementation will be key, because intent alone will not increase participation; structural barriers must be actively removed.
The Plan acknowledges progress in this area. IMPACCT (Initiative for Multistakeholder Partnership to Accelerate Children’s Clinical Trials), led by Solving Kids Cancer and for which we’re a member, is already playing an active role in tackling barriers to clinical trials. The Experimental Cancer Medicines Centres’ paediatric network – which we coordinate and co-fund alongside the Little Princess Trust and the health departments of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – provides vital infrastructure to run early-phase clinical trials with the aim of getting new drugs to children and young people with cancer.
Encouragingly, there are also areas, such as genomics, where improvements could be rapid if the right conditions are in place. For some children and young people, advances in genomic testing are already aiding diagnosis, and enabling more personalised treatments and care. Yet access to these technologies remains inconsistent around the UK. With the right investment in infrastructure, workforce and equitable provision, these innovations could rapidly narrow these inequalities. Without it, however, they may widen.
Three shifts needed for progress
Better regulation
Recent changes to medicines legislation in the US and the EU have helped increase focus on children’s and young people’s cancer drug development. However, significant gaps remain, with many promising medicines reaching adults long before they are considered for children and young people.
The UK Rare Cancers Act was signed into law on 5 March 2026. It requires review of the rules governing orphan drugs– medicines developed for rare diseases and cancers – including consideration of regulatory approaches taken in other countries. There is a significant opportunity for the Government to act on this review and establish improved incentives and pathways for children’s and young people’s drug development in the UK.
More collaboration and coordination
The complexity of this field means that no single sector – Government, academia, industry, or charity – can drive change alone. Progress depends on collaboration and coordinated action, from discovery science to clinical trials and patient support.
The Government has a unique role to play in convening, aligning incentives and driving prioritisation of children’s and young people’s cancer research. And there’s cause for optimism with the Government committing in the Plan to setting up a collaborative national approach to children’s and young people’s cancer research. That now needs to translate into a clear delivery framework.
The Children and Young People’s Cancer Coalition – a group of over 40 charities championing for change that we’re a part of – brings together expertise, evidence and lived experience and can be the collective voice to support delivery, champion improvements and hold the system to account in the years ahead.
Enough long-term investment
Behind these other challenges is a deeper issue: the absence of long-term, sustainable funding for research into cancers that affect children and young people.
Research in this area has suffered from short-term or fragmented funding cycles that limit innovation, disrupt collaboration, and create uncertainty across the research ecosystem.
Charities are playing a leading role in supporting the research landscape. We at Cancer Research UK, for example, spent over £31.5m on research specific to cancers affecting 0–24 year-olds in 2025/26, alongside initiatives like the £37m C-Further. But charity funding alone cannot carry the system. The Government has an important role to play too. Real change will only happen if enhanced prioritisation and collaboration is backed by long-term sustained research funding from the Government.
Lung cancer research shows us what we could achieve here. Mission-based, long-term funding has transformed what was once an underfunded and neglected field into a vibrant area of innovation. This did not happen by chance – it was the result of identifying a significant unmet need, developing a coordinated strategy and committing to consistent investment.
The lesson is straightforward: where funding is sustained and aligned to clear priorities, progress follows. And children’s and young people’s cancer research is the perfect candidate for this approach. A relatively small patient population, the complexity of unmet needs and the lifelong impact on survivors all strengthen the argument for targeted, strategic investment.
Now Government must deliver
The UK has the scientific expertise, clinical leadership, and political momentum needed to transform outcomes for children and young people with cancer. The National Cancer Plan signals welcome intent, but progress will depend on sustained action and a clear delivery plan to address longstanding challenges around research funding, clinical trials and access to innovation. Without a coordinated and long-term approach, opportunities to accelerate improvements in survival and quality of life will be missed.
In July, we launched a campaign calling on policy makers to unlock cancer breakthroughs by removing the barriers to timely clinical trial setup and recruitment of world-class researchers, and by securing long-term, protected investment in research across the four nations of the UK. This is a pivotal moment. By backing ambition with investment, clear delivery plans and accountability, the Government can help unlock the next generation of research breakthroughs benefitting all, including children and young people.
The prize is significant: a future where children and young people can live longer, better lives, free from the fear of cancer.