charities

House To House Collections For Good Causes

The Legal Framework

Generally

1. The law governing house to house collections is to be found in the House to House Collections Act 1939.

2. By virtue of section 1 of the 1939 Act, house to house collections for charitable purposes (see paragraphs 7 to 9 below) are lawful if conducted in accordance with a licence obtained pursuant to the Act.

3. In section 11 of the 1939 Act the term " collection" is defined to mean:
"an appeal to the public, made by means of visits from house to house, to give, whether for consideration or not, money or other property...." (our emphasis added)

4. As a matter of law, it is clear that the expression "money or other property" covers not only cash collections but also solicitations of cheques, standing orders and direct debits. It also covers the sale of charity merchandise and the collection of second hand clothing and goods.

5. Much of the detail relating to house to house collection licences is to be found in regulations made under the 1939 Act i.e. the House to House Collection Regulations 1947. The schedules to these Regulations contain the form of application to be completed by those seeking a licence as well as the documentation and certificates to be used before, during and after the collection.
National Exemption orders

6. Section 3(1) of the 1939 Act contains a mechanism to allow the Home Secretary to issue Orders of Exemption (commonly known as National Exemption Orders) to charities conducting house to house collections widely throughout England and Wales. Although the Act gives no guidance on the issuance of N.E.O.s we understand that the Home Office issues them to charities which have collected in 70 to 100 local licensing areas a year, for at least two years and that there are currently less than 50 such orders.

Charitable Purposes

7. Section 11(1) of the 1939 Act defines the term "charitable purpose", for the purposes of house to house collections, as "any charitable, benevolent or philanthropic purpose whether or not the purpose is charitable within the meaning of any rule of law".

8. Included within this definition are:
8.1 Registered Charities (details of which are available from the Charity Commission's website: www.charitycommission.gov.uk)
8.2 Un-registered charities i.e. exempt charities as listed in Schedule 2 to the Charities Act 1993; charities excepted from registration and those too small to need to register (i.e. having an income of less than £1,000 p.a.);
8.3 Organisations established for "philanthropic" and "benevolent" purposes.

9. For a purpose to be regarded as philanthropic or benevolent it must:
9.1 be altruistic (i.e. a purpose pursued for the good of others not simply for the members of the organisation),
9.2 be one which is worthy of public support, and
9.3 not be political (in the sense of party politics) or doctrinaire in nature.