Macmillan Cancer Support came under fire yesterday for recruiting a £100,000-a-year Head of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion – despite recently axing a quarter of its workforce.
The charity said the successful applicant will ‘drive cultural change’ and ‘build a truly inclusive environment, where all colleagues belong and can do their best work’.
The job advert also says the chosen candidate will be required to work only 34.5 hours a week, splitting their time ‘between home and our London Office’.
The opening comes a few months after the cash-strapped charity slashed more than 400 jobs amid what it described as a ‘tough financial climate’.
It also closed some services – including its 100-year-old hardship scheme providing millions of pounds in grants to thousands of cancer patients.
Rupert Lowe, the Reform MP, called for the to be removed from its website and accused the charity of pushing a ‘divisive ideology’.
He told The Mail: ‘Many well-meaning Brits who give money to Macmillan, in the hope that it supports cancer patients, will feel particularly let down.
‘This role should be scrapped, with every penny put towards frontline services.’
Key responsibilities for the £90,000-£98,000 role include monitoring progress on ‘EDI objectives’, building relationships with stakeholders, and helping to ‘build cultural competence’.
And Macmillan strongly encourages individuals to apply who have a ‘disability, impairment or health condition or individuals who identify as Black, Asian or from another minority ethnic background’.
Karol Sikora, founding dean of the University of Buckingham’s medical school, said it was ‘outrageous’ for Macmillan to publicise the title while simultaneously cutting costs.
The cancer specialist added: ‘Donors want the money to go to patient care not this sort of virtue signalling.
‘At double the salary of a nurse what is this person actually going to do? They will inevitably hinder front line care staff by doing ridiculous surveys and giving seminars to them.’
Inaya Folarin Iman, director of The Equiano Project, an anti-racism think-tank, commented: ‘For such high-paying roles, EDI jobs have rarely ever been scrutinised for their necessity or effectiveness.
‘In fact, there is a lot of evidence that they do more harm than good, by undermining free speech, pitting ethnic groups against one another and enforcing ideological conformity.’
Macmillan is Britain’s most popular charity, according to YouGov, with income from donations totalling £117million in 2023.
However, The Guardian revealed this month that the charity spent £100million more than it raised over the last six years due to soaring living costs.
The charity is 98 per cent funded by charitable donations from the public, with the remaining 2 per cent coming from charitable activities, grants and investments.
Macmillan previously faced criticism for creating a culture of ‘systemic’ racism and discrimination against disabled staff, according to a damning internal report from 2022.
Macmillan said at the time it was ‘profoundly sorry that anyone has ever suffered a distressing or harmful experience’ at the charity.
The debate over EDI has intensified in recent weeks after US president Donald Trump recently signed an Executive Order ‘ending illegal discrimination and restoring merit-based opportunity’ in the federal government.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch this week condemned EDI roles as ‘poison’, while at a Macmillan event this month Health Secretary Wes Streeting urged for an end to ‘ideological hobby horses’ and ‘misguided’ practices, although the Labour Cabinet minister defended diversity programmes as a whole.
Research by job site Adzuna found that vacancies for dedicated EDI jobs have plummeted by 70 per cent in the last 12 months, to just 208 in January.
A Macmillan spokesperson said: ‘Our priority will always be ensuring everyone living with cancer across the UK gets the support they need and we are here in person, over the phone, or just an email or message away for anyone who needs our help.
‘Our charitable mission is to ensure everyone has the best care that is right for their individual needs so investing in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s essential to our work.
‘The number of people living with cancer in the UK is rising, and evidence shows that many are receiving poorer experiences of diagnosis, treatment and care simply because of who they are or where they live.
‘They may have difficulty traveling to get treatment, accessing information in the right language or format, or experience other factors complicating their access to care. For everyone to get the best care available, we have to work harder to reach those who aren’t getting it right now and we need colleagues with the right expertise to lead this critical work.’