Ms Rantzen set up Childline in 1986

The centre takes calls from children wanting confidential help and advice.

The charity's chief executive said the base is being moved to new premises in Nottingham, with only two full time supervisors instead of five.

It is thought around 10 people will lose their jobs but managers insist there will be as little impact on front line services as possible.

Hundreds calling

ChildLine's chief executive Carol Easton said: "Not all of the staff (being made redundant) are involved in service delivery.

"We would hope never to make redundancies but, like many charities, financial circumstances for us are difficult.

"So we are having to lose roles but these are across the board, in terms of admin and service, and what we have done is ensure there are enough staff to manage the service."

The centre deals with 300 phone calls a day is one of ChildLine's biggest outside of London.