The Committee was asked to review some minor amendments to the Council’s Charity Collections Policy prior to its issue for public consultation, in line with the requirements set out on the Council’s Constitution. 

Officers advised that the policy provided guidance on what activities the Council licensed, from street collections of cash, or sale of goods for charity, and door to door collections of cash, clothing and direct debit appeals.

Members noted that the nature of charity collections had changed over the years.  It used to be mostly street collections but now there was far more on-line fundraising and commercial participators giving a proportion of the proceeds raised to registered charities.  This latter process involved looking more closely at the companies who applied for a licence and only licensing those companies and organisations Officers considered were giving a significant proportion of the proceeds to the charity.

Officers reported that applications from individuals raising money on behalf of a charity were now few and far between.

Members agreed that the formal policy, introduced in 2017, had served the Council well and only needed a few amendments.

Firstly, it was proposed that the policy would run for 5 years instead of 3, in line with other licensing related policies.  Officers had shortened the policy by removing the appendices and making these links to the relevant regulations and incorporating other text such as the definition of charitable purposes into the main document.

A reference to the Council’s Safety Advisory Group had been added so that outdoor events were covered; and to highlight partnership working with the County Council’s Highways department and Surrey Police when there were applications to hold events such as ‘pram races’ to ensure the safety of all involved.

The Committee agreed with the approach in the application process that tacit approval did not apply.  It was noted that some Councils that took applications through the .gov.uk website allowed for charities to go ahead if they hadn’t received a licence within a specified time.  However, Members and Officers considered that every fundraising activity that needed a licence should be licensed. 

Members noted that all licensed collections were listed on the Council’s website charity diary. 

With regard to commercial clothing collections it was proposed that a new clause be added to require applicants to provide evidence of holding a waste carrier’s licence or certificate or relevant exemption.  The Committee agreed this was likely to provide more assurance that applicants were fit and proper in terms of the way they ran their businesses.

In terms of consultation, it was agreed that a period of 12 weeks was sufficient.  Officers would publicise the survey with the assistance of the Web and Communications teams.  Members noted the list of formal consultees but anyone would be able to access the survey and respond.

Officers would report back post consultation in November with the aim of issuing the updated policy mid November to run until November 2028.

The Committee was pleased to approve the draft policy for consultation with one amendment to add ‘door to door’ after the reference to ‘House to House’ to clarify that these licences applied to residential and business premises.

RESOLVED that –

i)         the consultation exercise on the revised public charitable collections policy, as amended, be approved to run for 12 weeks; and

ii)        the results of the consultation to be submitted to this Committee for further discussion in November 2023, prior to approving the final version of the policy, to be effective from 13 November 2023 to 12 November 2028