A 24-hour counselling service for Basildon Council workers is safe from the axe.

Basildon Council chiefs are set to extend the council’s support service, which is offered to its network of more than 1,000 staff.

Under the scheme, employees and their families can ring a telephone number 24 hours a day to speak to someone if they are experiencing problems, as well as have up to five counselling sessions.

The service also gives staff access to advice about debt and financial problems through specialist advisers, as well as marital and childcare issues and consumer matters.

It also offers “immediate crisis intervention” support to staff at St Georges Community Housing.

The council now plans to extend its contract with an external consultancy to continue the service which costs £8,000 per year – about £8 for each worker.

However, the council would not reveal how many people have used the service in the past year, on the grounds of privacy and confidentiality.

The council’s contract with the provider, PPC, expires in September. However there are plans to extend this to March.

In the meantime, the council will tender for other companies to apply to run the counselling service and sign a four-year contract from March onwards.

Phil Turner, councillor responsible for resources at Basildon Council said: “This is a confidential freephone service for staff and their families to call to talk about any issues or problems.

“The service also provides telephone and face-to-face counselling, which enables employees to talk through any issues as and when they need to.

“The council is always seeking to achieve value for money and efficiencies for our residents, and that is why we are undergoing the EU procurement tender with our Essex partners to deliver services with an improved cost benefit.”

He added the council had investigated the possibility of bringing the services in house, but said it was more cost effective for an external company to provide them.

Before the scheme was set up, the council provided counselling support for staff via a local group. However due to an increase in demand, the employee assistance programme was set up to give workers round-the-clock support.