Home Office announces proposals to regulate charity collections
Howard Lake | 10 September 2003 | News
Home Office Charities Minister, Fiona Mactaggart MP, has unveiled proposals for a new integrated licensing scheme for public charitable collections in England and Wales.
The licensing scheme proposals include applying the same rules for house-to-house and street collections. By updating old and fragmented legislation, the Home Office hopes to make the law easier for collecting organisations to understand and for licensing authorities to implement effectively.
The proposals aim to provide fair access to collecting opportunities to all eligible organisations while deterring bogus collectors. They also seek to address the current situation where licensing authorities apply the rules differently in different areas.
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The proposals cover collections “for charitable, philanthropic and benevolent purposes”. There is no suggestion of charging for licences. They include introducing an exemption for small local collections.
Ms Mactaggart said: “We need fair, transparent regulation which facilitates responsible fundraising, but deters bogus collectors and prevents nuisance to the public. This will help protect the good name of the voluntary and community sector. I am confident that we will devise a workable scheme to maintain and even improve the level of trust and confidence which people feel in our charitable sector.”
The Home Office is seeking responses from interested parties from from 9 September to 2 December 2003.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.