We previously consulted on the below draft 'house to house' and 'street collections' policies.
The consultation closed on 2 July 2021.
What are house to house and street collections?
House to house collections are those companies or charities that put bags through letterboxes and ask for clothing and household goods to be donated. They are usually linked to a specific charity and will have the charity logo on their outer packaging. This type of collection can also be for cash, usually an envelope dropped through a letterbox with details of the charity and an estimated collection date. The envelopes would then be collected by an individual from your home. They could also include charities like The Poppy Appeal, where a poppy seller can call at your home to ask you to donate in return for a poppy. These are not to be confused with door to door salespeople.
Street collections are those people with collecting tins or buckets on the high street or at the street fayre or other charity event. Their collecting tins will clearly show the charity that they are collecting for, and each collector should be registered with the charity in some way. They are asking for cash donations and would ask you to place your donation directly into the collecting tin. These are not the same as the charity fundraisers that ask you to make a regular donation directly from your bank or building society account.
Purpose of a policy
Policies help to provide clear guidance to all about what should be taken into account when making and determining an application for a charitable collection. They ensure that as a Council, we treat all applications in the same way, and they advise applicants and officers of our minimum required standards. They outline how we interpret the law involved, set minimum standards for applicants to achieve and where applicable include timeframes and restrictions.
Central to our policies is a desire to ensure that members of the public and the charity sector are protected from people acting fraudulently and that we can have confidence that those collections taking place within the district are well organised.
Purpose of the consultation
We sought views on the proposed policies to ensure that they are fit for purpose, and to strike a balance between the needs of the charity sector to collect money and the needs of residents and visitors to our district to enjoy their homes and our open spaces without feeling overwhelmed by collectors.