Volunteer in our shops
Sign up now
All you need to do is complete our short online form. You'll then receive an email about your application.
All of our shops, with the exception of Lerwick and Jersey, are temporarily closed
Due to the recent announcement of a nationwide lockdown all of our shops are temporarily closed. However, we’d still love you to sign up to express your interest in volunteering and we promise to be in touch with you as soon as our shops are able to reopen.
We are recruiting volunteers for specific shops which will need your help when lockdown ends. If you don’t see an advert for your local Cancer Research UK shop, please do check back again soon as things are changing frequently. Or, see what other volunteering opportunities we have available.
As many of our shops reopen, we have new health and saftey measures in place to keep you safe. Find out more about how we're keeping our volunteers safe.
Every volunteer hour donated to us enables us to sell 6 items and make £20 of income.
So if you volunteer for a 7 hour day, this can generate £140
What do shop volunteers do?
It’s varied, exciting and rewarding. No two days are the same and you’ll be using all sorts of different skills, learning lots about…
The retail and charity sector.
Running a business and maximising profits.
Stock sorting, processing and pricing.
Serving customers, and cash and till handling.
Creating attractive displays and visual merchandising.
Health & safety e.g. manual handling.
Relationship building and public interaction.
Communications and teamwork.
Key tasks might include;
Talking to our customers, helping with queries and making them feel welcome in the shop. Sorting, steaming and tagging amazing donations to get them ‘shop floor ready'.
Serving at the till to process those all-important sales of clothing, accessories, books and homeware.
General housekeeping, display tidying, stock rotation and visual merchandising to keep the shop looking its best.
Why should I volunteer?
Volunteering with Cancer Research UK can build skills and experience, enhance employability, grow confidence, reduce isolation and improve overall well being. It's also easy and flexible and can be designed to fit around your personal and work commitments. By volunteering, you’re helping people affected by cancer, as well as building your own skills. It can also sometimes lead on to paid work in retail, customer service or other sectors.
The Benefits
While with us you’ll learn all about the world of retail, the charity sector, running a business, pricing, till work, customer service and visual merchandising. Plus, teamwork, health and safety, relationship building and communications.
You can boost your CV by working towards an NVQ in Retail with Derby College
We can provide you with a reference on request
Volunteering is good for wellbeing and social contact. Many volunteers claim to smile more, feel less stressed and more useful, with a new purpose in life.
Volunteering is fun! It’s great for making new friends, adding some structure to your day and meeting all sorts of inspiring volunteers, customers and staff.
Our shops are also COVID-19 compliant workplaces, with Personal Protective Equipment for all volunteers and staff, social distancing and hygiene measures.
Hear from our volunteers
If the shop you’re interested in appears on the dropdown menu in the application form, they currently need volunteers. If you’d like to sign up for a taster session, complete the form and you'll be phoned or emailed within 3 working days to arrange a date and time for your taster session.
If the shop you're interested in does NOT appear on the dropdown menu in the link above, the shop currently isn't recruiting volunteers. Please check back again soon though, as new shops are added regularly.
Use our find a shop tool if you don’t know which is your nearest shop or which shop you’d like to volunteer at. The tool will open in a new tab.
Not all shops need volunteers right now though – so once you’ve located your chosen shop using this tool, please also check the application form to see if your chosen shop appears.
Some stores may not be recruiting volunteers at the moment. The dropdown menu only shows shops that currently need volunteers.
If the shop you're interested in doesn't appear on the dropdown menu on the referral form, then, unfortunately, they are not recruiting volunteers at the moment.
Things are changing quickly and we may need you very soon. So please check back again or try another shop.
We’re sorry you don’t seem to have been contacted. There may be a few reasons for this.
If your shop was or does appear on this list, they are recruiting volunteers and you should be contacted within 3 working days. If this has not happened then please check:
- Your email inbox including the junk folder. An email from volunteerenquiry@cancer.org.uk might have gone here or been missed.
- If you have any voicemail messages on your phone.
- If you still can’t find anything, you can contact our helpful volunteering team by emailing volunteerenquiry@cancer.org.uk and we’ll aim to respond within 2 working days.
You can call the shop manager and ask them to remind you of the date and time. Use the find a shop tool to find out the shop's phone number.
If struggling with this please email volunteerenquiry@cancer.org.uk and our central volunteering team will aim to respond in 2 working days to help you with your query.
A taster session takes place in person at your chosen CRUK shop.
It's an informal chat with the shop manager and your chance to meet the other volunteers.
You’ll learn more about the shop volunteer role, chat through your availability, and what to expect to see if it feels right for you before progressing to a full volunteer application.
Contact our helpful volunteering team by emailing volunteerenquiry@cancer.org.uk and our central volunteering team will aim to respond in 2 working days.
