The time is now: our 2024/27 strategy

We want a better future for children and young people with cancer. In June we shared The North Star, which is our collective vision for that future, alongside our partner charities. Today we’re sharing our 2024/27 strategy, The time is now, which lays out how we as Young Lives vs Cancer will contribute to making it happen.

We’re proud to lead the way in delivering high-level, psychosocial support throughout cancer treatment, end-of-life, and bereavement. We’ll continue to invest heavily within this area to ensure we always provide the tailored support that’s needed and that our services remain relevant.

In the next three years we will:

• continue to deliver high-quality trauma informed integrated social work and accommodation services
• assess how we deliver services, responding to the changing needs of children and young people
• look for opportunities to collaborate and share knowledge for bigger and better impact.

From education authorities, NHS and Governments to businesses and corporates, we’ll pull communities and organisations together to collectively transform the future of care.

In the next three years we will:

• continue to keep the needs of children and their families on the agenda of the new UK Government and raise their voices on these topics across the UK
• seek to improve post-treatment wellbeing outcomes – working in collaboration with our partners to truly understand what drives and what hinders wellbeing after treatment
• lead and inspire conversations on the new technology transforming the health and social care landscape and work with innovators and entrepreneurs to create new solutions together
• build an outcomes framework for the North Star, so we can consistently learn, improve and make strategic, informed, decisions about where to invest time and resources.

Interrogating and sharing data is a priority for us over the next three years. We’ll use data to transform services, improve policies, build relationships, strive for equity and hold those with power to account. 

In the next three years we will: 

• use our data as a foundation to conduct further research on how we can improve the system  

• develop a new Centre for Insight, a collaborative initiative allowing people across the sector to share research findings and understand the experiences of children and young people with cancer 

• find new partners to work with who can help us expand our evidence base further 
• develop our technology systems so our data is always of the highest quality and fully accessible. 

Only when more money, time and capacity is dedicated across the entire system, will children and young people with cancer get the equitable support they deserve. We won’t stop until this happens.

In the next three years we will:

• develop a strategy for income generation focused on ensuring more individuals, communities and organisations engage with us and become long-term supporters
• build relationships with funders and identify opportunities to support new innovations and cross-sector collaborations
• experiment with models of funding and seek new forms of commercial income with partners.