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CHARITABLE COLLECTIONS
HOUSE TO HOUSE COLLECTIONS
Do I need permission to collect, money
or articles, from house to house for a charity?
House
to House guidance notes
Link to House to House application form (PDF
26KB)>>
Link to House
to House Form of Statement (PDF 13KB)>>
STREET COLLECTIONS
Do I need permission to
collect money in the street for charity?
Street Collection guidance notes
Street Collection
advertisement notes
Link to
Street Collections Form of Statement (PDF 13KB)>>
LOTTERIES
Do I need a licence for a raffle to raise
money for a charity or a good cause?
How to
run a lottery without breaking the law
Lotteries guidance notes -
'raffle'
Lotteries guidance notes - 'private
lottery'
Lotteries guidance notes - 'customer
lottery'
Lotteries guidance notes - 'small society
lottery'
Do I need permission to collect, money or articles, from house
to house for a charity?
Yes. A licence is required by anyone collecting money or selling
aricles from door-to-door for charitable purposes and it is an
offence to hold a collection without one.
An applicant may be expected to
provide evidence of their integrity and the bona fide nature of the
charity for whom they are collecting before permission is granted.
This is normally by the applicant consenting to a check of their
antecedents with the local police and providing details of
registration of the parent charity with the Charity Commission.
Where either of these checks are not possible, alternative
provisions may apply on an individual basis.
House to House guidance notes
1. With the exceptions
provided in Paragraphs 3 & 4 below: No collection for a
charitable purpose in any locality may be made unless the promoter
is licensed by the Licensing Authority of the area comprising that
locality and the collectors are authorised by the promoter.
2. Application for a licence
must be made in the prescribed manner. No licence can be
granted for a period longer than 12 months. Where a licence
is refused or revoked there is a right of appeal to the Secretary
of State within 14 days from the date on which notice of the
refusal or the revocation is given.
3. Where the Secretary of
State is satisfied that a person pursues a charitable purpose
throughout the whole or substantial part of England and Wales and
will be promoting collections for that purpose, the Secretary of
State may exempt that person from obtaining licences from the
Licensing Authority by an Exemption Order.
4. If the Chief
Constable for the Police Area where a collection for a charitable
purpose is being or proposed to be made is satisfied that the
purpose is local in character and that the collection is likely to
be complete within a short period, a Police Certificate in the
prescribed form may be granted to the person who appears to be
principally concerned in the promotion of the collection; in this
instance a licence from the Licensing Authority is not
required.
5. Requirements:
a) Every promoter of a
collection must exercise all due diligence to secure that persons
authorised to act as collectors are fit and proper persons and
secure compliance by collectors with the Regulations.
b) No promoter of a
collection shall permit any person to act as a collector unless
that person has been issued; 1) a prescribed Certificate of
Authority, 2) a prescribed Badge, 3) if money is to be collected, a
collecting box marked or a receipt book (with receipts and
counterfoils or duplicates consecutively numbered) marked on every
receipt with a general indication of the purpose of the collection
and a distinguishing number.
c) In the case of a
collection in respect of which a licence has been granted, every
prescribed certificate of authority shall be given on a form
obtained from HM Stationery Office and every precribed
badge shall be so obtained.
d) No persons
under the age of 16 years shall act or be authorised to as a
collector of money.
e) No collector shall
pester any person to the annoyance of such person or remain in or
at the door of any house if requested to leave by the occupant.
f) The
promoter of a collection must, within one month of the
expiry of the licence, submit an account of the collection on
the Form of
Statement prescribed to the Licensing Authority or
Secretary of State as the case may be.
6. Definitions:
Charitable Purpose: any charitable, benevolent or
philanthropic purpose.
Collection: 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.
House: includes a place of business.
Proceeds: in relation to a collection, all money and all
other property given whether for consideration or not, in repsonse
to the appeal.
Promoter: a person who causes others to act as collectors
for the purposes of the collection.
Do I need permission to collect
money in the street for charity?
Yes. The requirements are
similar to those given above for house- to-house
collections.
A street collection programme is
in operation and the Havant Borough is divided into five areas;
Havant, Waterlooville, Leigh Park, Emsworth
and Hayling Island. This ensures the smooth running of
collections and avoids more than one charity collecting in the
same area on any one day. A maximum of five dates
per year are allowed. It is advised to
contact the Licensing
Department>> early with proposed dates and areas before
submission of an application form to avoid
disappointment. Once dates and areas have been provisionally
agreed, the Licensing Department will send out an
application form. Applications should be made a minimum of
one month before the proposed collection and provisional dates are
held for one month only. Collections on Saturdays in December
are restricted to one day per charity. If the collection
raises more than £100 you are required to advertise the details of
your collection.
Street Collection guidance
notes
1. Definitions:
Collection: a collection of money or sale of articles for the
benefit of a charitable purposes.
Collector: a person who collects money or sells articles for the
benefit of a charitable purposes.
Promoter: a person who causes others to act as collectors.
Permit: permit for a collection.
Contributor: a person who contributes to a collection and
includes a purchaser of articles for sale for the benefit of
charitable or other purposes.
Collecting box: a box or other receptacle for the reception of
money from contributors.
2. No collection, other
than a collection taken at a meeting in the open air, shall be made
in any street or public place within the Borough of Havant unless a
promoter has obtained a permit from
HBC
.
3. Application for a permit
shall be made in writing no later than one month before the date of
the proposed collection.
HBC
may reduce the period of one
month if satisified there are special reasons for doing so.
4. No collection shall be
made except upon the day and between the hours stated in the
permit.
5.
HBC
may, in granting a permit,
limit the collection to such streets or public places or such parts
thereof as it thinks fit.
6. a) No person may
assist or take part in any collection without the written authority
of a promoter. b) Any person authorised under section 6a)
shall produce such written authority immediately for inspection on
being requested to do so by a duly authorised officer of
HBC
or any police
officer.
7. No collection shall
be made in any part of the carriageway of any street which has a
footway.
HBC
may,
if it thinks fit, allow a collection to take place on the said
carriageway where a collection has been authorised to be held in
connection with a procession.
8. No collection shall
be made in a manner likely to inconvenience or annoy any
person.
9. No collector shall
importune any person to the annoyance of such person.
10. While collecting:
a) A collector shall remain stationary. b) A
collector or two collectors together shall not be nearer to
another collector than 25 meters. Provided that HBC may, if
it thinks fit, waive the requirement of this Regulation in resepct
of a collection, which has been authorised to be held in connection
with a procession.
11. No promoter, collector or
person who is otherwise connected with a collection shall permit a
person under the age of sixteen to act as a collector.
12. Requirements:
a) Every collector shall
carry a collecting box.
b) All collecting boxes shall
be numbered consecutively and shall be securely closed and sealed
in such a way as to prevent them being opened without the seal
being broken.
c) All money received by
a collector from contributors shall immediately be placed in a
collecting box.
d) Every collector shall
deliver, unopened, all collecting boxes in his/her possession to a
promoter.
e) A collector shall not carry or
use any collecting box, receptacle or tray which does not
prominently display the name of the charity or fund which is to
benefit nor any collecting box which is not duly numbered.
13. a) Subject to 13b) below,
a collecting box shall be opened in the presence of the promoter
and another responsible person. b) Where a collecting box is
delivered, unopened, to a bank and an offical of the bank opens
it. c) As soon as a collecting box has been opened, the
person opening it shall count the contents and enter the amount
with the number of the collecting box on a list which shall be
certified by that person.
14. No payment shall be
made to any collector. No payment shall be made out
of the proceeds of collection, either directly or indirectly,
to any other person connected with the promotion or conduct of the
collection for services connected therewith unless such payments
have been approved by
HBC
.
15. Within one month
after the date of collection the person to whom a permit has been
granted must forward to
HBC
: a) a Form of
Statement as set out in the Schedule to these Regulations
showing the amount received and the expenses and payments incurred
in connection with a collection, certified by that person and
either a qualified accountant or an independent responsible person
acceptable to
HBC
. b) a list of the
collectors. c) a list of the amounts contained in each
collecting box and shall, if required by HBC, satisfy it as to the
proper application of the proceeds of the collection.
16. Within one month
after the date of collection the person to whom a permit has
been granted shall, at the expense of that person and after
the form of statement under 15a) above has been given,
publish in such newspaper(s) as
HBC
may direct, a
statement showing the name of the person to whom the permit has
been granted, the area to which the permit relates, the name of the
charity or fund to benefit, the date of collection, the amount
collected and the amount of the expenses and payments incurred in
connnection with the collection.
HBC
may, if it thinks
fit, waive this requirement in respect of the collection where the
total amount collected does not exceed £100.00.
HBC
may also, if it thinks fit,
extend the period of one month referred to at 15 and 16.
17. For the
purpose of the Regulation a 'qualified accountant' means a
member of one or more of the following bodies: The Institiute
of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales; The Institiute of
Chartered Accountants in Scotland; The Association of Certified
Accountants; The Institiute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland or
the Manager of a Bank or Building Society.
18. These Regulations
shall not apply to a collection taken at a meeting in the
open air or to the selling of articules in any street or public
place when the articles are sold in the ordinary course of
trade.
NOTES
Please inform if the need to reduce the area of collection
arises. This enables another organisation to undergo a collection
that may otherwise be denied.
Please inform if a collection event is cancelled. This
enables another organisation to undergo a collection that may
otherwise be denied.
In any event HBC should be notified in writing when a street
collection does not take place in order to close the file on the
matter.
Street Collection advertisement notes
News cuttings: If your collection raised more that
£100.00, you are required by
HBC
’s Street Regulations (made
under the Police, Factories (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1916 to
advertise, at your own expense, details of your collection.
The News offers a free editorial service for
charity notices when space permits. However, free space is
not always available owing to the time constraints of running a
busy daily paper and it is suggested that you are more likely to
have success with a free ad in their weekly paper. The Editor
also points out that the staff of The News cannot undertake to look
for your notices or inform you when they were or are likely to be
printed.
Details of your collection should be sent
to: The News Desk, The News, The News Centre, London
Road, Hilsea, Portsmouth, Hants PO2 9SX or faxed to them on : 023
9267 3363
Details of your collection should include:
a) The name of the person to whom the
permit was granted.
b) The area to which the permit
relates.
c) The name of the charity or fund to
benefit.
d) The date of the collection.
e) The amount collected.
f) The amount of expenses incurred
in connection with the collection ( if any).
Do I need a licence for a raffle to raise money for a charity
or a good cause?
It depends whether the proposed event is considered a lottery
and to whom and where tickets will be sold. A lottery is a
game of chance used to raise money for a club, society or charity
and it is an offence to run one without a licence. Money
raised must be for good causes and not for private or commercial
gain.
If you answer
YES to the following questions, then your proposal
is a lottery (if any of the questions are answered
NO, then it is not a lottery and no licence is
necessary).
- Will there be a distribution of a
prize/prizes*?
- Will the winner(s) be drawn by
chance and not skill?
- Will the people taking part make a
payment/consideration for a chance to win a/the prize?
* Prizes can be monetary or
non-monetary; they can be cash, goods or services. Under the
Licensing Act laws, alcohol must be in an appropriate sealed
container and must not be awarded to anyone under 18. Please
contact the Licensing Department for further information on 023
9244 6653.
For
HBC
purposes, there
are four sorts of lotteries; an incidental non-commercial
lottery at an entertainment event, a private lottery, a customer
lottery and a society's lottery. All have different
rules to comply with so it is important to establish whether a
licence is required. The only one of the four which needs to
be registered with
HBC
is a society's lottery.
How to run a Lottery without breaking the law
You want to raise some money; not for yourself but for a club or
society that you belong to, or for charity. But you do not
want to break the law - for minor lottery offences you could be
fined up to £5000, and more serious offences carry a penalty of up
to two years' imprisonment and an unlimited fine as well. You
can do it legally and lots of clubs and societies make a great deal
of money for very worthy causes through running
lotteries.
A lottery is a game of chance. If the
winner is decided wholly on skill then it is not a lottery but a
prize competition. For example, estimating the weight of a
cake is a skill so the lottery rules do not
apply. Beware of a prize competition where, although the
first part depends on skill or judgement, the final determination
of winners is by lot or chance. The first part will be a
prize competition but the second party will be a lottery and may
not be lawful.
Lotteries guidance notes - 'raffle'
The first sort of lottery you can run is a
simple 'draw' or 'raffle' during an event such as a dance or a fete
or a football match.
1. The people who come to the event
must come primarily for the dance or the fete or the match, not so
they can take part in your lottery.
2. The profits from the events and
from the lottery must not be for private gain.
3. Do not spend more than £500 of
your ticket income on prizes.
4. None of the prizes can be money
prizes.
5. Sales of tickets and declaration
of the winners must take place during the event itself.
Lottery tickets may not be sold beforehand under any
circumstances.
6. Ordinary 'cloakroom' tickets can
be used.
7. There is no need for the price
of all tickets to be the same, for example, tickets could be sold
at a discount for quantity.
8. The promoters of the Lottery may
deduct not more than £100 from the proceeds for expenses such
as printing tickets or hire of equipment etc.
9. There can be no rollover of
prizes to another lottery.
10. There is no need to register with the
Council for this sort of lottery.
Lotteries guidance notes - 'private lottery'
The second sort of lottery is a private
lottery of which there are 3 types. This is where tickets are
sold only to 1) members of an existing club or society (you cannot
form a club merely to sell lottery tickets to members), 2)
people who work at the same place, or 3) people who all live at the
same place.
1. All the tickets have to have
special information on them. It is best to get them printed
but you can do them yourself on a photocopier. Each ticket
must show on the front:
a) The price (all tickets the same).
b) The name and address of the promoter
who is in charge of the lottery.
c) "Sale of tickets is restricted to
______________________ (and fill in eg:) Members
of ABC Football Club, Employees of DEF Limited, or Residents of GHI
House".
d) "No prize won in this lottery shall
be paid or delivered by the promoters to any person other than the
person to whom the winning ticket was sold by them" (ie: tickets
are not transferable).
2. Sale of tickets must be
restricted to the club, the place of work or the house whose name
is on the tickets.
3. If it is a club lottery, all of
the money taken from ticket sales (except printing expenses) must
either be spent on prizes or given to the club or society running
the lottery and used for the purposes of that Club or Society.
4. If it is a lottery for people
who work at the same place or live at the same place, all the
proceeds, after the deductions of printing expenses, must be given
out as prizes. Nothing can be given to any other organisation
(ie: a charity) from the proceeds of this kind of lottery.
5. You cannot advertise the lottery
outside the club, the place of work or the residence in
question.
6. Do not send tickets by post.
7. If your club or society is part
of a national group such as the Women's Institute, every branch of
the club counts as a separate club. For example, Havant WI
cannot sell tickets to any other WI branch, even though they are
part of the same national organisation.
8. There is no need to register with the
Council for this sort of lottery
Lotteries guidance notes - 'customer
lottery'
The third type of Lottery is a customer lottery which is run by
the occupiers of business premises who sell tickets only to
customers present on their premises.
1. The Lottery must be
arranged to ensure no profit is made.
2. The tickets may be sold or
supplied only by or on behalf of the promoter.
3. No advertisement may be
displayed or distributed anywhere except on the business premises,
nor sent to any other premises. The lottery can therefore
only be advertised on the premises on which it is held.
4. Another Customer Lottery
cannot take place within seven days on the same business
premises.
5. Tickets (and the rights they
represent) are not transferable.
6. No ticket may result in
the winner receiving a prize more than £50.
7. No rollover of prizes is
permitted.
8. Each ticket must
state:
a) The name and address of
the promoter of the lottery.
b) The persons to whom the
promoter can sell or supply tickets.
c) That tickets are not
transferable.
d) The price (must be paid in
full with no credit allowed).
9. There is no need to register with the Council for
this sort of lottery.
Lotteries guidance notes - 'small society
lottery'
The fourth sort of lottery is where your club
or society wants to sell the tickets to the public and not just to
its members or to those attending a particular entertainment
event. As you are selling to the public, the controls are
much more strict.
1. Register your society with the
Council, for charges see under Gambling Act Permit Fees>>.
Your society can only be registered if it is not run for private
gain and is based in Havant.
2. Get a lottery scheme approved at
a meeting of the management committee or at the Annual General
Meeting of your club. Decide now and write down how many
lotteries you want during the year and how much of the proceeds you
will give away as prizes, (See paragraph 6). Write down
the name of the person who will promote or organise them and the
names of the two "responsible people" who will check your
results. All three must be members of your society (but see
paragraph 15 below).
3. Make sure that no separate
lottery brings in more than £20,000 and that the total value of all
tickets on sale in the same calendar year does not exceed
£250,000. If you are ambitious enough to want to raise more
on each lottery, or in any one calendar year, you must register not
with the Council but with: The Gambling
Commission, Telephone 0121 230 6666 or e-mail info@gamblingcommission.gov.uk
4. All tickets must have written or
printed on them:
a) The name of your club or society.
b) The name and address of the promoter
who is organising the lottery.
c) The date of the draw, when the
winners will be announced. (But see paragraph 9 if you are having
an 'instant' lottery or paragraph 11 if your customers have the
same ticket every week in a weekly draw).
d) The price of the ticket (must be the
same for all tickets, but there is no maximum price for a
ticket).
e) The ticket number.
f) The words "Registered with
Havant Borough Council".
5. If your organisation is a
registered charity, Section 3 of the Charities Act 1992 requires
that, if your organisation has a gross income exceeding £10,000 per
annum, you must also ensure that the ticket states that the
organisation is a registered charity.
6. If you pay anyone to
promote or help with your lottery, you might agree to put their
name on your tickets or advertisements. If so, do not print
their name any larger than the smallest lettering used for
your club or society's name.
7. Do not let children under
16 handle the tickets. No one under sixteen may buy or sell
tickets in this kind of lottery, nor may anyone sell them in any
street or other public place.
8. Prizes can be either cash
or non-monetary. The maximum prize for a participant is
£25,000. The amount of money deducted from the proceeds of
the lottery to cover prizes and expenses incurred with the running
of the lottery, such as manager’s fees, must not comprise more than
80% of the total proceeds of the lottery. 20% of the proceeds
must be applied to a purpose for which the promoting society is
conducted. Rollovers are only permitted where every lottery
affected is also a small society lottery promoted by the same
society, and the maximum single prize does not exceed £25,000.
9. Instant Lotteries
Only. If you are having an 'instant' lottery, where people
buying tickets open 'windows' in the card or rub off a square to
see whether or not they have won, be careful! You have to
have 'date of the lottery' on each ticket. Choose a date a
few weeks ahead, when you can guarantee to have sold all the
tickets.
10. It is illegal to have an
'instant' lottery where anyone can predict, in advance, which
tickets will win.
11. Weekly/Montly Subscription
Lotteries Only. If you are having a draw every week or month
but your customers keep the same ticket all the time, each ticket
number will go into each draw so write on the tickets, for
example: "Date of lottery: this ticket number will go into a
'draw' every Saturday from now until December 200-, provided that
the weekly price of £1.00 is paid in ADVANCE of each Saturday's
draw". Of course you can change the day of the week and
the ticket price to suit your club. The date, instead of
' December 200-' should be when your Lottery Scheme
expires (see paragraph 2).
12. It is illegal to have a bonus prize
which depends on buying several tickets at a total price exceeding
£1.00, or to have a bonus prize for weekly or monthly subscription
lotteries which depends on regular subscriptions. "One
lottery a week or month and each lottery separate", is the
rule.
13. All Society
Lotteries. Sales of tickets in separate lotteries may overlap
but do not start selling any lottery tickets more than three months
before the date of the draw in your previous lottery.
14. Within three months of the date
of the lottery, you must send a completed Return Form to the
Licensing Officer. The three months begin when the draw is
made to find out who the winners are. This applies to all
Societies' Lotteries. With an 'instant' lottery, the
date is the date on the tickets ie: the last date tickets were
on sale (See paragraph 9).
15. The Return
Forms can be obtained from the Licensing Officer. You
must send a copy of your Lottery Scheme (See paragraph 2) with each
Return Form. If you have weekly lotteries, send the Return
Forms in batches every two months, with one Lottery Scheme per
batch.
16. Lottery Managers. Anyone who
manages a society's lottery must be either a member of the society,
an employee, a company wholly owned by the society, a person
certified by the Gaming Board as a lottery manager or the employee
of such a person.