Breast Cancer Haven will permanently close its Wessex and West Midlands centres and make 13 staff redundant.
There are 60 employees at the charity, and it recently had to make 13 members of staff redundant. A further nine roles are now at risk due to the planned closure of two centres.
The charity has said it must close these centres in order to safeguard the future of the charity following a 50% drop in voluntary income caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
When lockdown began, all staff took a 20% reduction in salary and the charity made use of the furlough scheme.
Sally Hall, chief executive of Breast Cancer Haven, said: “While these measures helped in the short term, the longer-term impact of the loss of income has put the future of the charity at risk.”
She added: “The decision to close two of our centres has not been taken lightly. Unfortunately, the financial conditions imposed by the pandemic have left us very little choice, and we must put the people who have breast cancer and their families at the heart of our decisions, to ensure we are able to be there for them in the future.”
A redundancy consultation process is commencing with all staff affected by the closures.
“We will be devastated to see any of our colleagues go and I want to thank them for working so hard to ensure the highest level of care has always been given to the people who use our services,” Hall said.
She added: “These changes form part of Breast Cancer Haven’s revised strategy, which is to reduce spending in line with our projected income, making our services more accessible, and rethinking our delivery model to reach more people.”
Help and support will continue to be available remotely for all those affected by breast cancer over the telephone and online. Online support classes, workshops, and 1:1 therapies will continue as normal.
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