Make a difference to cats by volunteering at your local Cats Protection shop.
Would you like to be part of our amazing volunteer retail team?
Our shop volunteers help with all aspects of the day-to-day running of our fantastic shops – serving customers, helping with stock rotation, creating displays, and everything in between!
You’ll develop new skills, make new friends and help raise the funds needed to help thousands of cats and kittens each year.
Find your local Cats Protection charity shop
We have shops on lots of local high streets – please check where your nearest is before you apply. We do not have shops in Northern Ireland currently.
Find your local shop
Shop volunteer roles at Cats Protection
We have several volunteer roles in our shops, so you can pick whichever appeals to you most!
- Shop assistant – you’ll help with all aspects of the day-to-day running of one of our fantastic shops – serving customers, helping with stock rotation, creating displays, and everything in between!
- Bookworm shop volunteer – you’ll identify and price saleable books from donated stock and create eye-catching displays
- Flair for fashion shop volunteer – you’ll sort, select, steam, size and price the best clothes for sale from donated stock
- Love to tidy shop volunteer – you’ll help make sure our shops are organised, tidy and most importantly welcoming to members of the public
- People person shop volunteer – you’ll help make our shops welcoming and enjoyable places for customers to visit
“I love volunteering at my local Cats Protection shop. It’s a fun and enjoyable way of making a contribution towards the charity to help cats in need.” – Christine, shop volunteer.
Our shops have such a positive impact:
- 3,000 tonnes diverted from landfill in 2020
- 275,000 hours gifted by volunteers in 2020
- 2 million clothing items processed for sale in 2020
- 30,000 customers served each week
- 10,000 cat queries answered in 2020
“You meet interesting people while contributing to a good cause. It’s a pleasure to volunteer with the other volunteers and managers as they create a great volunteering environment.” – Fiona, shop volunteer.
How do I apply?
If you’d like to volunteer in one of our shops please apply online, pop in, or give the shop a ring to find out what opportunities they currently have. You can find your nearest shop here.
You need to be aged 14 or above to volunteer in our shops and you need to be over 16 to use the till or steam clothes. Information about volunteering in a shop as part of your Duke of Edinburgh is available here.
Keeping our volunteers safe
We take the safety and wellbeing of our volunteers very seriously at Cats Protection. Here are some of the ways we do this in our shops:
- Hand sanitising stations – volunteers are encouraged to sanitise their hands on entering and leaving the shop and frequently during their shift.
- Hand washing – volunteers are encouraged to wash their hands frequently during their shift and between each task.
- Social distancing – volunteers are encouraged to keep a two-metre distance between themselves and others and to follow any one-way system within the shop.
- Personal protective equipment (PPE) – is provided while on shift.
- Till point – a screen has been fitted for volunteers’ safety and the till point is cleaned between users.
- Donations – gloves are provided to use when sorting donations.
- Cleaning – all hard surfaces are cleaned frequently throughout the day including door handles, light switches etc.
- Cups – volunteers are encouraged to use their own mug while on shift and to not share cups with others.
In addition to this, shops follow all the health and safety recommendations and controls from the shop risk assessment.
