Counselling charity Relate faces insolvency as 80 staff lose jobs

Britain's biggest relationships counselling charity is on the verge of insolvency after failing to overcome financial difficulties caused by a collapse in funding from NHS, schools and local authority contracts.

- Patrick Butler

Relate has been put into administration, with staff told that it has four to six weeks to find a buyer or merger partner if it is to stay afloat. The 26 local branches of the charity, which are each independent, are not affected.

There are fears hundreds of clients could see sessions cancelled after 80 staff - a third of the workforce at Relate's central arm - including 40 counsellors were made redundant with immediate effect.

The crisis facing Relate comes amid concern about the future of many charities which are struggling to balance the books in the face of rising costs and demand, and declining donations and contract income.

Staff have said they were shocked at the suddenness of the announcement of the redundancies last week, with some people learning they had lost their jobs on a Microsoft Teams call with management arranged by administrators last Friday.