Ten paid staff left the centre in 2004 and many volunteers resigned saying they could not offer the service children deserved.

But five local MPs have stepped in to help raise funds needed to recruit more paid staff to run the centre.

Last year 17,000 children rang ChildLine's Nottingham office.

'Compromise reached'

Ten full-time staff took voluntary redundancy in October leaving just one full-time supervisor.

The agreement to help raise funds was reached after Broxtowe MP Nick Palmer mediated between management and staff at ChildLine.

He said: "There's a big base of volunteers in Nottingham and I felt it would be an enormous shame if that expertise were lost.

"So I was very keen to broker a compromise to enable the volunteers to carry on."

The other politicians supporting the move are Nottingham area MPs Paddy Tipping, Graham Allan, John Heppel and Alan Simpson.

The next challenge is to find new premises - as the charity has to leave its current building.

The charity was set up in 1986 by former TV presenter Esther Rantzen.