Sue Ryder has opened a charity shop in Slough in partnership with a local homelessness charity that offers homeless people volunteering placements.

Volunteers have been recruited from Slough Homeless Our Concern (SHOC), which provides crisis care, recovery advice and skills training, for various roles at the charity shop such as sorting and preparing stock, merchandising and sales.

Project manager, Mandy McGuire, at SHOC said: “We are delighting to be working with Sue Ryder and believe that the partnership could really make a difference to the lives of the most vulnerable in Slough. Volunteeering will help our homeless locals to rebuild their confidence, gain valuable workplace skills and feel part of the community; a really positive step towards turning their lives around.”

The shop opened on 23 May and stocks furniture, electrical, clothes, music, books and other gifts.

Sue Ryder held onto sixth place in the 2013 Charity Shops Survey league table. It had a total of 415 shops with an income of almost £42m, up 14 per cent on the previous year.

Last year Sue Ryder won a Charity Award for encouraging prisoners to volunteer in its charity shops.

The 2014 Charity Shops Survey will be published with the September issue of Charity Finance.

The 2014 Charity Awards winners will be announced at a gala dinner on 12 June.