Breast Cancer Haven's Leeds centre staff at risk as charity suspends operations and warns staff of possible redundancy

The charity says its income has 'decreased significantly', in line with other charities around the world and that it will not be able to continue operating at the moment even after making previous cost cutting measures which included letting staff go.

It means that the charity will no longer fulfil its online services such as appointments with therapists or volunteers.

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A spokesperson for the charity said: "It is with huge sadness that Breast Cancer Haven’s Board of Trustees have made the extremely difficult decision to suspend operations for the time being. This means we will be pausing the delivery of our live online service and with great regret, putting all our staff at risk of redundancy.

"In common with many charities around the world, as a result of the pandemic, our income has decreased significantly. At the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, we were forced to close our five centres and other in-hospital face-to-face services. Since then, we have been providing our services online.

"Despite a series of cost cutting measures including saying goodbye to valued colleagues, we are not able to continue normal operations at this time. This means that we will be pausing the delivery of our live online services that have helped around 1,800 people by providing over 10,000 appointments since lockdown began in March 2020.

"We have the most wonderful team of staff, self-employed therapists and volunteers and we are hugely grateful for their hard work and dedication over so many years."

"Whilst we are winding down our one-to-one therapies we will still be providing individual support from our healthcare professionals as well as online groups and classes up until the end of June.

"We will honour all existing individual therapy appointments and endeavour to honour existing visitors’ full treatment plans if possible.

"Visitors with first consultations booked before 23 April will be able to access a maximum of four hours of individual therapy time.

"New visitors will be able to access individual help via our Healthcare Professional team, but we will not be able to provide any new one-to-one appointments with our self-employed therapists.

"We will continue with our regular groups and classes for a long as possible.

"We will also signpost our visitors to other possible sources of support when appropriate. "

"We still have a further £100,000 of direct costs to raise in order to deliver these services up until the end of June. We continue to appreciate and welcome any support you can give us.

"We will make further announcements regarding the future of Breast Cancer Haven as soon as possible."