House to house charity collections

You need to apply for a house-to-house collection permit if you want to collect money or goods from people's homes for charity. 

You must apply for a permit if you are any of the following: 

• a small charity 
• a local group (such as, scouts or girl guides) 

Before you apply, you need to check if the charity you are representing needs a permit. Some national charities do not need a house-to-house collection permit, they only need to notify us of the dates and places they are collecting.  

To see if the charity you are collecting for is on the list of exempt charities, please check the GOV.UK website.

Applications for a house-to-house collection permit can be sent to the Licensing team either by post or by email.  

You should apply for a permit at least one month before you plan to collect. Due to high demand, we recommend you apply as early as possible. 

All house-to-house collection permits will be granted for the period of collection, unless we specifically state a shorter period when we grant your permit. 

You will receive an email confirming if the application has been approved. If you have not heard from us within the target completion period of 28 days, please email using the address below.  

We require you to return a financial statement within 28 days of the collection taking place.  

A financial statement includes  

• details such as costs of the collection and; 
• how much money was collected. 

Further applications may be rejected if financial statements are not received.