French charity to support Britons with Brexit rights
A charity helping English-speaking cancer patients and their families in France will branch out from October to support Britons over Brexit rights. Cancer Support France (CSF) will help with issues such as applying for residency cards.
This will be mainly via its national helpline and email support, at 0800 240 200 and helpline@cancersupportfrance.org, from its trained “active listeners”, who are all volunteers.
CSF is not one of the UK Nationals Support Fund (UKNSF) bodies funded by the UK government but it has received some funding from the British Community Committee of France. It will help Britons nation-wide, which should complement support by UKNSF bodies IOM (Brittany, Normandy, Paris), FBN (Dordogne) and SSAFA (forces veterans). See gov.uk/guidance/living-in-france.
Find your Brexit questions answered in our helpguide: Brexit and Britons in France
CSF president Pat Lockett said they already expanded their service from April, supporting people affected by Covid-19. They see Brexit help as a natural extension. “It’s not such a big leap for us, because when people come to us, they don’t only bring their issues to do with cancer. Our role is to empower them to identify actions that can help their current situation,” she said.
Dedicated team members are preparing Brexit resource packs for the volunteers. They will also be shared with CSF’s 17 local associations which may receive Brexit queries from those they help. The cancersupportfrance.org website will also be updated. No new information has yet been provided on requirements for applying for the new obligatory cards. A site for applications is set to open on October 1 at tinyurl.com/vvey9z6.
