Charitable collections

House-to-house collections

You need a permit from us to carry out house-to-house collections.

Certain collections are exempt, such as those organised on a national basis by large charities, but otherwise a local permit is necessary. Normally such collections invite cash donations but collection involving the sale of tickets or collections of goods also have to be licensed.

Promoting or undertaking a house-to-house collection without a permit is an offence.

Although large charities do not need to obtain a permit from the council, notification is required, and the charity may have to apply to the Home Office for a permit.

Apply

To apply, you will need to complete our application form.

You’ll need to make sure you read the regulations and guidance information before you apply.

You will be able to act as though your application is granted if you have not heard from us by the end of the target completion period, which is two months from the date of application.

Apply to carry out collections

Once your fund-raising is complete you’ll need to fill in our online house-to-house collections return form.

House-to-house collections return form

Street collections

You need a permit from us to carry out charitable street collections.

This includes collections in all public areas, such as doorways and car parks.

With this permit and fund-raising work we will need to know how much is raised and where the money is going.

You could be fined £200 if you collect money for charity without a licence.

Apply for a street collections permit

Once you have completed you collections you will need to fill out a form to advise us of how much you collected.

Street collections return form