A leading charity which provides support to cancer sufferers has chosen Shipley as its national fundraising hub, creating 28 jobs.

Macmillan Cancer Support, which also provides help to carers, is employing four team leaders and 24 customer assistants at The Waterfront office complex in Salts Mill Road in a move to centralise its fundraising across the UK.

Karen Marsden, head of the Fundraising Support Centre, said the move would help the charity save “significant” funds, increasing the amount of money it has to spend on nurses and care for cancer sufferers, carers and their families.

She said: “The jobs were moved to Shipley to help create a centralised and consistent level of service to Macmillan fundraisers, while also helping Macmillan to achieve significant cost savings and increase its income.

“We are here to help Macmillan’s loyal supporters raise money to help people affected by cancer.”

The new headquarters, which handles inquiries from fundraisers employed by the charity and the general public, has already taken over the work of regional offices in Scotland and Northern Ireland, London and the South East.

It will start dealing with fundraising queries previously handled by teams in the Central and South West regions in February, followed by those from the East Midlands and the North in early March.

Mrs Marsden said the new team had been recruited from across the region from banking, telecoms and public sector backgrounds and had undergone an intensive training programme.

Many of the new staff, who began work in December, had been involved with Macmillan as voluntary fundraisers in the past. They will help members of the public organise fundraising through events such as marathons, sports challenges and coffee mornings.

Mrs Marsden said: “The new centre is going really well. We have had quite a number of calls, even though we have only taken over a couple of regions so far, with enquiries from people wanting to support Macmillan and some good feedback from our fundraisers.”

The charity’s president, Lady Halifax, will cut the ribbon to officially open the new centre, on Thursday, January 19.

There will be a celebration event to mark the occasion.

Supporters can contact Macmillan on 0300 1000 200 or e-mail fundraising @macmillan.org.uk to find out how they can support the charity. Calls will be charged at the local rate.