The financial impact of breast cancer on the UK economy is projected to rise by nearly a third to £4.2bn within 25 years, new analysis warns.

The disease is expected to cost between £3.2bn and £3.5bn in 2025, covering NHS diagnosis and treatment as well as lost productivity when patients or carers cannot work.

A study by Breast Cancer Now and think tank Demos found that without intervention, costs could increase by 31 per cent by 2050.

The charity warned the UK faces “dire consequences” unless action ensures “everyone an equal chance of the best diagnosis, treatment and care.”

Around 56,000 new cases occur annually in the UK, with around 11,000 deaths.

Claire Rowney, chief executive of Breast Cancer Now, said the report “sets out loud and clear the huge challenges in tackling breast cancer and the dire consequences we’ll face unless urgent action is taken now to save more lives from the disease and give everyone an equal chance of the best diagnosis, treatment and care.”

She added: “Breast cancer is so far from a done deal.

“Our new report exposes the growing scale of the problem and the human and economic prices being paid – with far too many lives tragically being lost to this devastating disease.

“Great strides have been made in tackling breast cancer over past decades, but it still devastates thousands of lives in the UK each day – with people facing long anxious waits for a diagnosis or vital lifesaving treatment, or being denied the life-extending drugs they need.”

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in the UK, with around 56,000 new cases every year and around 11,000 deaths.

The analysis suggests raising screening uptake to 80 per cent could save up to £185m in 2025 by detecting cases earlier when treatment is more likely to succeed.

Anyone registered with a GP as female is invited for screening every three years between ages 50 and 71.

Latest figures show 70 per cent of women in England attended screening in 2023/24, up 5.4 percentage points from the previous year.

Rowney said: “We’re calling on governments and policymakers across the UK to work with Breast Cancer Now and our supporters to urgently implement measures we know will improve the lives of those impacted by breast cancer – including tackling low breast screening uptake rates and reducing health inequalities.

“Measures that will also bring about much-needed cost savings to the NHS and UK economy.”

The report said tackling health inequalities could save thousands of lives each year.

Reducing disparities in diagnosis could prevent 2,000 deaths annually in ethnic minority groups and 3,200 in the most deprived areas, while saving up to £180m and £389m respectively for the economy.

Lucy Bush, director of research and participation at Demos, which has worked with Breast Cancer Now since 2023 to model the disease’s impact, said: “In the context of the NHS 10 year plan for health announcing a shift ‘from disease cure to disease prevention’ this paper comes at a timely juncture.

“It helps draw attention to the massive opportunity we have to reduce the impact of this devastating disease on our country.

“Our work sheds a particular light on the difference that could be made by focusing on improving outcomes for ethnic minority and low-income groups.

“The disparity we see in the survival rates between different demographic groups is simply unacceptable and the uplift in wellbeing savings demonstrates what the ultimate prize would be – a reduction in the suffering and early deaths of thousands of people.”