Retail sales generated £53.5m for Sue Ryder in the last financial year, making up 55 per cent of the charity’s total income, according to its latest accounts.

The accounts for care charity Sue Ryder, which were filed with the Charity Commission on 1 September, show that charity shop retail sales increased by £4.9m in the 12 months to 31 March 2015. In the same period the charity acquired a further 16 shops, increasing its real estate portfolio to 458 retail branches across the UK.

The success of its retail arm is given as the predominant reason why the organisation’s total income increased by £5.1m in the last financial year to £95.4m. The charity also received £24m worth of funding from the government and was able to generate £14.3m through fundraising.

Sue Ryder’s total expenditure also grew by 3.5 per cent from £89.9m to £93.3m in 2014/15. Around 45 per cent of this was spent on its retail arm, while £21.9m was spent on end of life care and a further £13m were spent on neurological care.

Sue Ryder had a total of 3,146 employees in 2014/15, 94 people less than it employed in the previous 12 month period. The organisation spent £54.2m in staff costs in the last financial year, with over 90 per cent of that going towards wages and salaries.

A total of 23 employees earned £60,000 or more in 2014/15, compared to 25 the previous year. The highest earning employee at Sue Ryder earned between £120,001 and £130,000 per annum. Nowhere in the accounts is it made explicitly clear what the salary of Heidi Travis, the chief executive is.

As of 31 March 2015, the organisation was operating with £20.9m of free reserves, double the amount that the trustees deem necessary.