Buckinghamshire Council Charitable Collections Policy consultation

Feedback updated 7 Mar 2024

We asked

We asked for your views on the draft Buckinghamshire Council Charitable Collections Policy.

The consultation ran from 9 May to 20 June 2023.

You said

We received 61 responses to the consultation:

55 to the online survey
6 by post or email

69% of respondents strongly agreed or agreed with the proposal to regulate street collections through adopting the Model Regulations and 15% disagreed. The remaining 16% neither agreed nor disagreed, didn’t know or did not answer this question.

We did

We made the following amendments to the policy following feedback:

to allow applicants to apply for house-to-house collections to take place over a period of up to 28 days during the pre-Christmas period
to allow applicants to apply for house-to-house collections to take place until 8pm, with a discretion to apply for later hours during the pre-Christmas period
so that street collections are limited to town and village centres and other commercial areas
to provide clarification that charities can still apply to collect in more than one ward/location under the same licence/permit

On 5 September 2023, Licensing Committee approved the Charitable Collections Policy to go forward for adoption. On 6 December 2023, Buckinghamshire Council agreed the adoption of the Charitable Collections Policy (PDF 4.29MB).

Overview

We want to hear your views on our draft Charitable Collections Policy for Buckinghamshire Council.

As the Licensing Authority, we regulate:

house to house collections – collection of money or goods from someone's home for charity
street collections – collection of money or selling articles for charity in any street or public place (such as a shop doorway or car park)

There is no fee for a house to house collection licence or street collection permit but you could be fined if you collect without a licence or permit.

Draft Buckinghamshire Council Charitable Collections Policy

The draft policy sets out:

the legal requirements
the application process
our approach to preventing nuisance to residents and businesses in Buckinghamshire
our approach to enforcing unlicensed activities

The draft policy aims to ensure that:

the interests of public donors and beneficiaries are safeguarded
collections are carried out to high standards by bona fide, authorised charitable organisations
proceeds of the collection are properly accounted for
a fair proportion of the proceeds are donated to registered charities
unacceptable nuisance to the public is prevented
unlicensed collections are prevented from taking place
action is taken where there is evidence of unlicensed collection activity

The policy will cover the Buckinghamshire Council area. It will replace any charitable collections policies from the previous district councils.

Who the policy applies to More Information

This policy is for anyone applying to carry out either a house to house or street collection. It provides information for anyone collecting and members of the public affected.

Licensing applications must be made:

at least 28 days before collecting
no more than 12 months before collecting

How the draft policy has been developed More Information

The draft policy follows legislation, including the Model Regulations, and guidance from relevant organisations.

These include The National Association of Licensing Enforcement Officers, Chartered Institute of Fundraisers, and the Fundraising Regulator.

More information about the development of the draft Buckinghamshire Council Charitable Collections Policy (PDF 0.44MB).

What we are proposing

House to house collection proposals More information

For house to house collections, we are proposing to:

require a licence for collecting direct debit information house to house
restrict house to house collections to 9:00am to 7:00pm – no collections will be permitted where a “no cold calling” or similar notice is displayed
allow only one house to house collection in any one council ward area on any given day, other than for exceptions stated in the policy
grant licences for a maximum of 14 days
allow charities one house to house licence per calendar quarter (January to March etc.)
require charities to submit a declaration confirming that they are satisfied with the amount being donated to charitable causes by commercial collectors
require applicants provide evidence of public liability insurance for a minimum of £5 million

Street collection proposals More information

For street collections, we are proposing to:

regulate street collections by adopting the Model Regulations (see draft policy appendix 3, PDF 0.26MB) – the industry standard for street collections
restrict street collections to 8:00am to 8:00pm
limit street collections in any one location to one charity on any given day
restrict street collections to town and village centres
allow one street collection permit per charity per calendar quarter (January to March etc.)
subject collectors proposing to use animals to additional checks –including a requirement for specific risk assessments and insurance cover
require charities to submit a declaration confirming that they are satisfied with the amount being donated to charitable causes by commercial collectors
require applicants provide evidence of public liability insurance for a minimum of £5 million
issue permits in-line with existing Site Management Agreements (SMAs)

How to have your say

You can tell us your views in one of the following ways:

complete the online survey using the link at the end of the page
complete, and return, a printed version of the survey (PDF 0.26MB)
email us at licensing@buckinghamshire.gov.uk
write to us at Buckinghamshire Council Charitable Collections Policy consultation, Licensing Services, The Gateway, Gatehouse Road, Aylesbury, HP19 8FF

If you have any questions about this consultation, please email us at licensing@buckinghamshire.gov.uk or phone us on 01296 585605.

Please tell us your views by midnight on Tuesday 20 June 2023.

What happens next

We will use your responses to develop the final Buckinghamshire Council Charitable Collections Policy.

The policy will then be presented to our Licensing Committee for approval and adoption in Summer 2023.

We will review the policy every 5 years.

Privacy

We will use the information you provide here only for this activity. We will store the information securely in line with data protection laws and will not share or publish any personal details. For more information about data and privacy, please see our Privacy Policy.

If you have questions about data and privacy, please email us on dataprotection@buckinghamshire.gov.uk. Or write to our Data Protection Officer at Buckinghamshire Council, The Gateway, Gatehouse Road, Aylesbury, HP19 8FF.

Areas

Amersham
Aylesbury
Beaconsfield and Chepping Wye
Beeches
Buckingham and Villages
Chesham and Villages
Denham, Gerrards Cross and Chalfonts
Haddenham and Waddesdon
High Wycombe
Missendens
North West Chilterns
South West Chilterns
Wendover
Wexham and Ivers
Wing and Ivinghoe
Winslow and Villages

Interests

Communities

Contact