Ellie Goulding is getting into the festive spirit of giving – by spending Christmas Eve volunteering at a homeless shelter.

The Burn singer revealed she has been volunteering for a few years, and would be working all day at the shelter on the day before Christmas.

Ellie sang at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire on Tuesday night in support of homeless charity Streets of London, putting on a show which included Bastille and Tom Odell.

She told the Daily Mirror: “It’s not just people who are homeless in the shelters, but also those who are lonely and don’t have someone to spend the time with. I was chatting to a guy last year who was a musician from Africa who had found himself homeless. The thought of someone not having a Christmas…”.

While Ellie has enjoyed a successful music career in the last few years, she knows she could easily have struggled – and if she hadn’t had the safety net of her mum’s house in Herefordshire, she could even have ended up on the streets if things hadn’t gone so well.

“It’s so scary because it happens so quickly and to anyone,” she said. “It could be any of us.

“I was pretty much by myself in London. I had a room but not a family home – I had to go back if anything went wrong. My situation was a luxury.”

This comes after the star said last week that she would like Buckingham Palace to be turned into a homeless shelter.

Ellie Goulding withboyfriend Dougie Poynter
Ellie Goulding will spend Christmas with boyfriend Dougie Poynter (Jonathan Short/Invision)

After she has helped out at at the shelter, Ellie will spend Christmas Day itself with her family and boyfriend Dougie Poynter from McBusted, who joined her on stage in Shepherds Bush.

The 27-year-old singer will host this year, cooking for 10 people – a daunting prospect, she admitted: “I’m scarily hosting this year. I’m veggie and Dougie is veggie, so I’m in charge of desserts.”