A CALL centre run by Sarsen Housing Association for customers of the Lifeline alarm system is to close next March.

Sarsen, based in Devizes, said it had taken the decision to close its Melksham call centre because it was losing money.

The call centre was originally set up in 1987 as a partnership between Kennet, North Wiltshire and West Wiltshire district councils. Sarsen took it over in July 1998.

Users of Lifeline pay a fee for the service and are given a personal telephone alarm which they activate if they have an emergency.

Other users of the call centre include Westlea Housing Association, based in Chippenham and Wiltshire Police, which gives victims of domestic violence a telephone alarm.

The 24-hour call centre takes on average 400 calls a day and 11,000 calls a month. It serves 6,000 customers, of which 900 are Sarsen tenants. The remainder are mostly elderly and disabled people who live in Wiltshire and the South West who receive a Lifeline-type service.

Response times have exceeded those recommended by the Association of Social Alarm Providers; 98.5 per cent of calls are answered within 60 seconds.

Within the next three months, Sarsen will put the service out to competitive tender.

Sarsen spokesman Philip Mackie said: "We would be looking for a suitable call centre in the UK that provides the same level of service as ours."

The future for the 15 people who work at the call centre is uncertain, but Sarsen has said it hopes to find them alternative employment.

Richard Kitson, chief executive of Sarsen, said it was regrettable that the call centre had to close.

He said it had been operating at a loss for a number of years despite the "excellent work" of the 15 staff and continued endeavours to win more business in the face of larger competitors.

He said: "We have to recognise that other centres can provide high quality services for less cost.

"They achieve this by having greater volume of work. We will be able to provide the same quality of service for less cost to all our customers under these arrangements."

He said the existing services to customers would be unaffected.