Jobs at NSPCC helplines under threat

Plans to move the NSPCC’s evening and weekend telephone
helplines from London to Manchester could lead to 25 redundancies,
writes David Brown.

The charity said it is consulting staff on the move, which is
being planned because of recruitment difficulties and a lack of
space at its London office.

All staff will be offered positions in Manchester and some may
remain in London.

The expanded out-of-hours helpline will become part of an
integrated “listening centre” together with the There4Me internet
service.

Jennifer Bernard, director of services for children and young
people at the NSPCC, said: “We are looking at potential changes to
enhance this service to benefit access by the community and the
conditions of our staff.”

But the British Union of Social Work Employees said most staff
are part-time so are unlikely to move to Manchester, or find a
suitable alternative within the London office.

General secretary Steve Anslow said: “Why does the NSPCC think
it is going to be easier to recruit staff in Manchester when they
are going to have to effectively start the whole thing from
scratch?

“These are highly skilled jobs – it is not the sort of
thing that a social worker from a child protection team could walk
into without a great deal of training.”