Rose Mabiza

12-09-2024

Stand Up To Cancer Day 2025

Image by LightFieldStudios via Envato Elements

Discover why Stand Up To Cancer Day 2025 matters for every sector, uniting awareness, compliance, and compassion to drive change across organisations

Every year, Stand Up To Cancer Day (SU2C Day) shines a powerful spotlight on one of humanity’s most significant health challenges: cancer. It is a day that unites patients, families, researchers, communities, and organisations in a collective stand against the disease, reminding us that while cancer touches almost every life, action and progress are within our reach.

In 2025, the UK will mark Stand Up To Cancer Day on Friday, 12 September, with nationwide fundraising campaigns, televised events, and community initiatives led by Cancer Research UK in partnership with Channel 4. From the much-loved Great Celebrity Bake Off to grassroots workplace fundraisers, the day captures public imagination while driving resources into life-saving research.

But SU2C Day is not only about fundraising it is about turning awareness into action. For highly regulated organisations, whether in healthcare, social care, education, finance, or other sectors, this day also raises crucial questions: How do we embed cancer awareness into compliance systems? How do we ensure policies and practices meet legal, ethical, and human responsibilities? And how do we create workplaces where awareness translates into genuine prevention, support, and resilience?

In this blog, Rose Mebiza will explore why Stand Up To Cancer Day matters, what it represents in 2025, and the practical implications for regulated organisations striving to align compliance with compassion.

What is Stand Up To Cancer Day?

Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) is a campaign in the UK, run by Cancer Research UK in partnership with Channel 4, designed to raise funds, awareness, and support for translational cancer research that is, research which accelerates promising findings in the lab into clinical trials, treatments and patient care.

While the campaign covers fundraising events (for example, “The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer 2025”) and media collaborations, Stand Up To Cancer Day provides explicitly a focal point, a day to galvanise public attention, encourage voluntary participation, share stories, and push for better prevention, early detection, and equitable access to care.

Why Stand Up To Cancer Day 2025 matters

The statistics are sobering:

• 1 in 2 people in the UK will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lifetime
• Cancer remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide, accounting for nearly 10 million deaths annually
• Early detection, timely treatment, and equitable access to care are key determinants of survival, but barriers remain
• SU2C’s ambition is to ensure that 3 in 4 people in the UK survive cancer by 2034.

Stand Up To Cancer Day matters because it shifts the conversation from fear and inevitability to empowerment and progress. It is not just about raising money, it’s about raising hope, resilience, and accountability.

For highly regulated organisations, this day also highlights the pressing need to integrate cancer awareness into workplace culture, training, and compliance strategies. Whether through occupational health, safeguarding responsibilities, or wellbeing programmes, organisations play a crucial role in reducing risks and supporting staff and communities impacted by cancer.

The practical implications for regulated organisations

Awareness days like Stand Up To Cancer Day 2025 are not only about raising funds and sharing stories - they also highlight the responsibilities of organisations operating in highly regulated environments. From frontline health and social care to education, employment, and policy, regulated sectors have a duty to turn awareness into structured action that protects people, improves outcomes, and aligns with compliance standards.

Below are four key areas where organisations can make a tangible difference:

1. Healthcare providers - Embedding early detection and support

For NHS Trusts, care homes, and private providers, Stand Up To Cancer Day is a reminder that compliance goes hand-in-hand with compassion. Meeting Care Quality Commission (CQC) standards, for example, involves not only delivering safe care but also promoting health education. Encouraging staff and patients to understand the signs and symptoms of cancer, ensuring access to screening, and supporting those undergoing treatment are all essential parts of holistic care.

2. Education providers - Empowering young people with knowledge

Schools, colleges, and universities have a role in embedding awareness into education. For young people, understanding cancer risk factors from lifestyle choices to family history can be life-changing. With Ofsted’s emphasis on safeguarding and wellbeing, educational institutions can use awareness days like SU2C to teach resilience, empathy, and informed decision-making.

3. Employers in regulated sectors - Building inclusive wellbeing strategies

For employers in social care, public services, and beyond, cancer awareness should form part of workplace wellbeing policies. This includes supporting staff with flexible working arrangements during treatment, promoting occupational health services, and ensuring that managers are trained to handle sensitive conversations with empathy. Equality Act 2010 protections for employees with cancer underscore the legal as well as moral obligation to act inclusively.

4. Policymakers and Regulators - Championing equity of access

Stand Up To Cancer Day also resonates at the level of regulation and policy. With Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) in England focusing on population health, awareness initiatives feed into broader goals of reducing health inequalities. Regulators such as NICE and UKHSA/OHID consistently highlight the importance of prevention and equitable care. For them, awareness days reinforce the mandate to align funding, policy, and service design with real-world needs.

Beyond awareness - Driving organisational culture

While campaigns like SU2C inspire individuals to donate or participate, their real legacy lies in cultural transformation. For regulated organisations, this means:

• Embedding awareness into compliance systems - Digital platforms like ComplyPlus™ enable organisations to integrate awareness campaigns into governance structures, from e-learning modules on cancer awareness to tracking staff participation in wellbeing initiatives
• Shaping leadership culture - Leaders in health, social care, and education must model compassion and prioritise wellbeing as much as compliance. This strengthens trust, staff retention, and organisational resilience
• Measuring impact - Awareness is not enough without accountability. Organisations should measure how campaigns like Stand Up To Cancer translate into improved knowledge, behaviour, and workplace culture.

The human side - Stories that inspire change

What makes Stand Up To Cancer Day so powerful is its human focus. Behind every donation and campaign is a story of families fighting alongside their loved ones, of researchers dedicating their lives to breakthroughs, and of survivors who embody hope.

For organisations, amplifying these stories in the workplace helps to humanise compliance. Whether through internal newsletters, awareness sessions, or fundraising events, storytelling bridges the gap between regulation and compassion. It reminds staff that policies and procedures ultimately exist to protect and empower people.

How organisations can get involved in 2025

Here are practical ways regulated organisations can participate in Stand Up To Cancer Day 2025:

• Host fundraising events - From bake sales to sponsored challenges, workplaces can raise money for SU2C while fostering community spirit
• Promote cancer awareness training - Provide CPD-accredited training on cancer awareness, safeguarding, and occupational health responsibilities
• Encourage screening participation - Share NHS screening programme information with staff, service users, or students
• Create supportive policies - Review HR and occupational health policies to ensure they meet the needs of employees affected by cancer
• Engage with local charities - Partner with cancer support organisations to provide additional resources and guidance
• Use digital platforms - Share awareness posts on LinkedIn, X/Twitter, and internal communications to amplify the message.

These actions are not just symbolic; they align with compliance, safeguarding, and equality responsibilities, reinforcing an organisation’s commitment to both people and policy.

Standing together for change

Stand Up To Cancer Day 2025 is more than a single date on the calendar. It is a collective call to action - an opportunity to show that compliance and compassion are not opposing forces but mutually reinforcing values.

For regulated organisations, embracing this awareness day is about more than fundraising. It’s about creating systems and cultures that value prevention, care, and inclusion at every level. When awareness translates into accountability, lives are not only changed - they are saved.

Stand up today, lead change tomorrow

Awareness only makes a difference when it is embedded into systems, policies, and everyday practice. At The Mandatory Training Group, we help highly regulated organisations go beyond awareness campaigns by providing the tools, training, and governance frameworks that turn knowledge into measurable impact.

Our ComplyPlus™ platform empowers organisations to:

• Integrate awareness campaigns like Stand Up To Cancer Day directly into training pathways, wellbeing programmes, and compliance dashboards
• Track staff participation in awareness initiatives and generate evidence for inspection readiness under the CQC, Ofsted, HSE, NHS ICS reporting frameworks, and more
• Deliver CPD-accredited e-learning courses that raise awareness of cancer prevention, occupational health, safeguarding, equality duties, and staff wellbeing
• Create a culture of compliance and compassion, ensuring legal obligations are met while also supporting the people at the heart of your services.