Central London Samaritans

Darren Hall, Head of Branch Operations at Central London Samaritans, based in Salisbury Place, has recently provided the following statement addressing press coverage since July concerning the wider Samaritans organisation: 

“The article reported on an internal presentation given by the main Trustee board of Samaritans to volunteers and staff across the whole organisation. The basic thrust of the reporting centred around the potential closure of around half of the 201 branches from which the service provision of Samaritans is currently delivered. 

As you may recall, our branch, ‘Central London Samaritans’ (CLS) is an independently registered charity with its own constitutional document and trustee board. It is affiliated to but independent from the wider Samaritans organisation, and in particular what we refer to as Samaritans Central Charity (SCC). We are one of 201 ‘branches’ and operate under an Operating Agreement between us and SCC. The trustee board of CLS is wholly responsible for the governance and operation of all aspects of CLS including 100% of the funding required to maintain its existence. We receive no direct funding from SCC. Any funding given to CLS is used wholly for the activities carried out by CLS. 

Around two thirds of the 201 branches operate on an affiliated basis. The rest remain under the direct control of SCC and are accordingly funded by SCC. 

We, the trustee board of CLS, cannot comment directly on the press coverage or deliberations of the main Trustee board as the basis on which such conclusions have been drawn have yet to be shared. However, as an independently funded and managed service, we would like to reassure you that as far as we are concerned, the future of CLS and the services it provides remain unchanged. 

I hope the above provides some level of comfort that we remain fully committed to the delivery of all our support services both from our new home in Marylebone and via our outreach program in the local community. Any future support provided to CLS will be used for these purposes.” 

We continue to work closely with Central London Samaritans as our Charity of the Year 2025-26 on a variety of awareness and fund-raising activities. You can find out more about the charity’s work here – https://www.samaritans.org/branches/central-london/