Nine people face redundancy after a charity announced plans to close its centre in Tidworth.

The NSPCC is conducting a consultation looking at changing the way it runs some of its local services to help it "reach more communities". As a result, a consultation is underway to close the service centre in Drummer Lane, which provides programmes Pregnancy in Mind and Seeking Solutions.

As part of the proposals, which are being consulted on, its "face-to-face" work in the town "would come to end". Affected staff will have priority for vacancies within the NSPCC, while support and training is being offered.

The charity's assistant director for the South West, Andrew Freeman, said: “Our mission is to prevent child abuse and we’re proposing a change to the way we run some of our local services to help us reach even more communities in Wiltshire.

“Childline will continue to be there for children in the county who have nowhere else to turn and our helpline will be there for adults who are worried about a child.

"Alongside this, we are proposing that a hub in Swindon would co-ordinate all of our work across the region, including direct services, local campaigns, community partnerships and a named person supporting every school in Wiltshire.

“But our face-to-face work from our base in Tidworth would come to an end. We’ve begun a consultation with staff and we’ll be listening to feedback and doing everything we can to support those affected.

“With less early or preventative help available for families, growing online safety concerns, and the impact of the pandemic, we are extremely worried about the risks facing children.

"We believe we can have the greatest impact with the funding we have by trying to prevent abuse and neglect before it happens and these proposals would help us achieve that aim across Wiltshire.”

However, a member of staff, who did not wish to be named, said that “now is not the time to be cutting services” following the pandemic, adding: “The loss to the local community is great whilst other services are already on their knees.”

The charity says all the children and families currently receiving an NSPCC service in Tidworth will be able to complete their programme of work under these proposals.

The results of the consultation are expected within the next month, and if approved, the building is likely to be sold in the months following.