House to house collections licence

Apply for a licence:

Licence summary

A permit is required to undertake a 'house to house' collection for charitable purposes, under the House to House Collections Act 1939, House to House Collections Regulations 1947 (as amended). Door to door collections for cash and/or goods, including envelope collections and those from pub to pub need to be licensed.

The Home Office licences national collections and we regulate smaller collections.

Ideally, applications should be submitted at least one month before the first collection date. It is particularly important to leave enough time to order and receive the necessary prescribed badges and certificates of authority from Her Majesty's Stationery Office.

The number of collections within the borough

We limit the number of collections being carried out in any particular area to three at any time, so it is possible that three charities can be found collecting legitimately in the same area on the same day of the week.

We are aware that this can annoy some members of the public and that charitable people only have so much that they can give away.

If you receive too many recycling bags, our advice is to recycle the bags you do not want.