Blaby District Council

Summary

It is illegal to hold a Street Collection to collect money or sell articles for the benefit of charitable or other purposes without obtaining a Street Collection Licence from the Council if that collection is to be held 'in a street or public place'. A 'public place' is a 'place where the public has access'.

Applications for a permit should be submitted with sufficient notice prior to the date on which the collection is due to take place (at least one month prior to the date of the collection).

How to apply for a street collections licence

1. choose a date, time and location for your collection;
2. contact a member of the Licensing Section to provisionally book in the date of the collection;
3. fill in the application form provided below;
4. attach any permission letters from the land owner(s) to the application form;
5. send the application form to the Licensing Section (no fee applies) at least one calendar month prior to the first date of the collection;
6. if a permit is granted, a form of statement must be returned to the Licensing Section within a month of the collection date.

Downloads

• Street collection form of statement (return) (PDF, 14KB)
• Street collection regulations – brief guide (PDF, 19KB)

Printable forms

• Application form for street collections licence (PDF, 13KB)

Further information

It is often assumed that collections held in shop doorways or car parks do not need a permit because they are being held on 'privately owned land'. This is not necessarily true, as the legislation does not mention the ownership of the land or treat collections on 'privately owned land' as exempt from the licensing regulations. A shop doorway or car park (when that shop is open for trading) is a 'public place' because the public has access at that time. No other permit would be valid. A Pedlars Licence, issued by the Police cannot be used for this purpose. Only Local Authorities issue Street Collection Permits under Section 5 of the Police, Factories, etc. (Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1916, as amended by the Local Government Act 1972 and Schedule 29 of that Act.

There is no cost for the issuing of consent but there are rules to be followed in applying. Street Collections are usually made by Charities, take place in a shopping area on a busy shopping day and money is collected in a sealed container by authorised collectors.

There are regulations, which govern this type of collection and consents are restricted to enable charities to raise money without their collections clashing with those of other charities. The purpose of the legal requirement to obtain consent is to ensure collectors are properly authorised and that money is collected in a secure way and the total proceeds collected are properly accounted for.

Download an application form and attach any permission from the land owner before submitting it to the Authority.

Contact us

Officer / Team	Licensing Section
Postal address	Blaby District Council Council Offices Desford Road Narborough Leicester LE19 2EP
E-mail address	licensing@blaby.gov.uk
Telephone	0116 272 7783
Fax	0116 272 7596

If you need this information in other languages or formats (large print, Braille or audio), please let us know when you contact us.

This page was last updated on 25th September 2009