ABC Collecting Tins Information

Legal requirements and common
sense practice relating to the use of collecting boxes

Collecting days take very little organising and at the end of the day you may well find that you have raised between £500 and £1000, but you do need to ask permission first. For house-to-house or street collections you need a licence from the police or Local Authority. For collecting outside supermarkets, etc. you need permission from the owner or manager.

Legal Requirements for Public Collections

1. Guidelines (‘Model Regulations’) for street collections contained in a Schedule to Charitable Collections (Transitional Provision) Order 1974 have been adopted with minor variations, by the Metropolitan and City Districts of London, and all other District Councils. The House-to-House Collections Act, 1939, and the House-to-House Regulations, 1947, apply nationally, with some variations in Scotland. Copies of relevant laws and regulations should be available from the respective authorities above and fundraisers are advised to be familiar with them. Applications for permission to hold street and house-to-house* collections should be made to the local Town Hall or in the Metropolitan district of London to the Metropolitan Police.
2. The guidelines require amongst other things that for public collections all boxes shall be properly labelled, numbered and sealed.

3. All boxes shall display prominently the title of the charity or fund which is to benefit, and bear a number held in a register by the promoters licensed to hold the collection.

4. No person may assist or take part in any collection unless in possession of written authority which should be available for inspection on request by a police officer.

Static Collecting Tins

Boxes left in shops, pubs, hospitals, schools, clubs, etc. should still comply with points 2 and 3 above. You must obtain the permission of the owner/manager before leaving the tin. Make sure ABC has the address of where the tin is left as legally the charity must keep a record of all tins. In addition, a contact telephone number (at least) should be shown of an office authorised to arrange the prompt emptying of the box. Boxes should be emptied regularly, at least every six months, and preferably in the presence of the box-holder; if this is not possible then in the presence of two other people. Authority and identification should be shown, and the box-holder given a receipt. Have a spare tin so that you can leave a replacement straight away to save you doing two journeys.

Boxes used in public places should be made of a suitable, durable material and be tamper-evident. Boxes specifically designed for home use should not be used in public places. Security chains can be fitted to most collecting boxes. ABC can provide these if necessary. Box seals should be checked and any sign of tampering should be reported to the authorised promoters of the collection. On no account should any attempt be made to re-use seals.

Organising a Collection Without a Licence

(For example, in a public house, in the car park of a supermarket, in a school or on private land.) It is always necessary to obtain permission from the owner of the land and it is a good idea to get this in writing so you have proof of your permission if challenged.

With a Licence

A licence must always be obtained for collecting on the public highway i.e. street collections. The licence is obtained from either the police or the Town Hall. ABC will issue you with badges of ‘Collectors Certificate of Authority’ along with any collecting tins or fundraising materials you need for your collection. You will need one badge for each person helping with the collection. At the end of the collection the badges must be destroyed.

Opening and Sealing of Collecting Boxes

The law requires that boxes used in public places are properly sealed, but it is also in the interest of everyone involved in fundraising that public trust in the good reputation of voluntary giving is maintained. The public is entitled not only to see that the law is complied with in the case of public and collections, but also to see that all boxes are secured, wherever and for whatever purposes they are used. For security reasons, boxes are not designed to be easy to open, but they are made of extremely tough material which is unlikely to be damaged by firm and positive action in following these instructions to open a box:

• slit ringseal all round the edge of plug (broken line indicates where to cut).
• insert a suitable strong lever i.e. wide-blade screwdriver, in the gap at the edge of plug
• push down lever towards the under body of the plug and lever plug upwards - resistance will be encountered but the plug will pop out. Do not insert the lever into the funnel or slot
• after removing the contents, press plug back into hole
• apply new ringseal; fill in the identity sticker and stick in a visible place to the side of the box

Each ABC tin will come to you with a number on. You can use ABC collecting forms to make a list of your collectors and their tin numbers to record how much was collected in each tin, as they will be pleased to know.

Counting The Money

Always have two people present for opening the tins and counting the money. Count each box individually so that you can let each helper know how much s/he has managed to collect. If you are organising a public collection and have received your licence, you were probably given a form to fill in regarding the money collected. This should be filled in as soon as possible after counting the money and returned to the appropriate address. Check the form carefully before posting as ABC staff may need to sign it. A cheque for the proceeds should be returned to ABC within 28 days of a collection. We will let you know when the money has arrived safely by sending an acknowedgement of the amount raised.