Charitable collections licence

Permission must be granted by the Council before a house to house collection for charitable or philanthropic purposes (money or goods) can take place within the Council's area - unless a Home Office Order of Exemption has been granted.  It should be noted that a house-to-house collection licence is needed for collections going from pub to pub.

You must be a fit and proper person to promote a collection and there is a requirement for the promoter of the collection to make a return following the collection.

If you have concerns as to whether a collection in your area is licensed, you can check the list of approved collections for the current year in our downloads. To report unauthorised collections in your area contact the Licensing team.

Application process

• Download application form for a licence to carry out a house to house collection
• Fee - there is no fee payable
• Application Evaluation Process. The decision period to process applications is 28 days. The decision period will not begin until all required information has been received by the Council
• A House-to-House Collection Permit may be granted for any period up to one year
• A return form must be completed following the collection and returned to us.  Returns should be submitted within 28 days of the collection

Eligibility, penalties and regulation summary

Details of the regulations and penalties can be found in the summary of the regulations and eligibility criteria for this licence in our downloads.

See also the House-to-House Collection Regulations document for conditions covering collections in the Borough.

We reserve the right to make more detailed enquiries about your application in certain circumstances.  This could include requesting that the applicant or any other person connected with the organisation submits a police check at our request.

Will tacit consent apply?

Tacit consent applies to this application.

If tacit consent applies it means that an application is automatically approved if a decision is not made within the above decision period.  In all other cases approval can only be obtained following the decision regardless of the time taken.

It is in the public interest that we must process your application before it can be granted.  Contact us If you have not heard from us within a reasonable period.

Last updated Friday, 29th March 2019

• Next Apply for street collections licence