Street trading and charity collections
In this section
Street collection licence
If you want to collect money or sell items on the street for charity, you might need a street collection licence. It’s not just ‘streets’ that are covered - you may need a licence if you collect money in public areas, for example a shop doorway or car park.
Charities wishing to collect money on the Highway must apply for a Street Collection Licence.
Applicants who wish to place an item on the street such as a table, podium or Gazebo, will also need to apply for a Non-profit event or activity licence
We only grant the licences directly to the charities themselves or local branches of a charity.
Apply for a street collection licence
To apply for a street collection licence, you need to complete the following steps:
- Read the conditions of the licence
- Sign in to or sign up to our citizen portal and complete the "Street collection permit" application (this can be found in the "request new licence" section of the portal).
How often can you collect?
Due to the large number of applications we receive every year, we allow only one day per year for a Street Collection unless there are exceptional circumstances - for instance, if your charity is a disaster appeal.
Street collection dates are allocated a year in advance. Any charity that has previously applied will automatically be written to in September with a deadline for returning applications.
Once the deadline has passed dates will be allocated and after this time any collecting will be strictly limited.
After you apply
You cannot run your collection until you have been granted a licence. If you have not heard from us within a reasonable period, please contact us.
Once you have run your collection, you must fill out and return the Form of Statement to us within 1 month of the collection.