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Relate, one of Britain's biggest relationship counselling charities is on the verge of insolvency.This comes after a collapse of funding from NHS, school and local authority contracts, leading to financial difficulties that were unfixable.As a charity, about a third of its counselling services are funded by public sector contracts - so a collapse of funding is likely to have precipitated its fall.Relate covers couples and relationships counselling, family counselling, mediation, children therapy and sex therapy. It has been around since 1938, with Diana, Princess of Wales, being its patron in 1989.As it stands, Relate has been put into administration with 80 counsellors made redundant with immediate effect. The remaining 200 employees have been told that the charity has just 4-6 weeks to find a rescue buyer or merger partner.  In the meantime, trading will continue.The charity has 26 local branches which act independently and are unaffected.This collapse could be problematic with client counselling sessions being forced to end.The charity sector, is affected by rising costs and demand partnered with declining donations and contract income.  Not a good mix.According to MSN news, none of the staff received redundancy pay from the charity, under the terms of the administration. Longer-serving members have been advised to apply for compensation through the government redundancy scheme.Will Relate see a breakthrough? FRP Advisory are working on the options and will be in communication with employees and clients about the ongoing process.See below statements from the administrators and the company.  Relate statement A spokesperson for Relate said: “Relate is the only non-profit organisation working across England and Wales through a network of Federated Centres to provide essential relationship support for individuals, couples, and families, regardless of the ability to pay. The Relate Federation is made up of the national charity (Relate Ltd.), which acts as a central support function and 23 independent Centres, as well as associated organisations in Northern Ireland, Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man. In 2018 the Relate central support function (Relate Ltd.) developed an additional counselling service for areas of the country not covered by federated centres. The financial climate and the loss of government contracts has impacted Relate Ltd.'s ability to sustain that service. They are currently exploring various restructuring options that might be available to the charity in consultation with the local network of Centres.” FRP statement Relate's central support organisation has fallen into financial difficulty following the loss of government contracts. It will continue to trade while options for restructuring are considered.Relate operates on a federation basis and the activities of the 26 independent centres that make up the Relate Federation are not affected. They continue to deliver their relationship counselling and other services as normal.Phil Reynolds and Ian Corfield, partners at FRP Advisory, were appointed joint administrators of the Relate central support organisation on Tuesday 26th November 2024.It has unfortunately been necessary to make approximately 80 employees redundant. This is just under a third of the overall workforce and around 200 employees remain in post. Those affected are being supported with applications to the Redundancy Payments Service. Phil Reynolds said: “We’re exploring a number of options for the central support organisation and are in communication with both employees and clients about what the ongoing process means for them.”If you are a worried employee, see our guide on your options and rights here.​