House to House Collections

We issue house to house permits and work to ensure that house to house collections are for charitable purposes and are carried out by bona fide organisations. Charities with Home Office Exemption Certificates take priority.

Introduction

The Council issues permits to allow charities to carry out house to house collections.

Who is responsible?

District council:

We work to ensure that house to house collections are for charitable purposes and are carried out by bona fide organisations. We try to ensure that different organisations are not collecting at the same time through a booking system however this is not always achievable. Charities with Home Office Exemption Certificates take priority. A maximum length of two weeks is allowed at a time for a collection. Collectors must carry proof of identification.

Lincolnshire County Council

The County Council are responsible if there are any highways issues relating to house to house collections.

Lincolnshire Police

We inform the local Police of all house to house collection permits issued.

Description

Licence - House to House Collections

We issue house to house collection permits to charities for collections in towns and villages in South Kesteven. Organisations who have not had a collection in the previous year are given priority. We try to run house to house collections in conjunction with street collections.

When a new application is received the applicant must supply:

references for honesty and trustworthiness
details of the charity
the organisation's most recent report and balance sheet.

Collections are normally limited to two weeks at a time so that as many charities as possible can be accommodated. After the collection has taken place, the charity/organisation must supply a returns form within 28 days showing the amounts collected and expenses incurred.

If a person is wishing to collect on behalf of a charity and they are not a member of that society (for example, Comic Relief) the Council must have a receipt of a letter/proof that the Charity concerned is happy for the person to collect on their behalf.

House to House Regulations are obtainable on request and supplied with permits.

No charge is made for these permits.

The Charities Bill

The Charities Bill received Royal Assent on 8 November 2006. Except for some technical provisions the Act has not yet come into force. Further information about the timetable for when each part of the Act comes into force will be announced. For further information on how this may affect you/your charity please visit the Charities Commission website.