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Who regulates house-to-house collections? . . . And who do you contact about a dubious collection?

Preface

This preface applies to England (excluding Greater London) and Wales.

Question:  When you receive a clothing collection leaflet or bag, you may want to check whether it's "genuine".  Also (if it's misleading) you may want enforcement action taken against the collectors.  So, who do you contact? :

• the police, or
• your local council's trading standards department / Consumer Direct, or
• your local council's licensing department ? 

Answer:  We suggest you first contact your local council's licensing department.  They have a unique role - they license charitable collections (using the little-known House to House Collections Act 1939).  They can tell you whether the collection is licensed or not.  If it's not licensed and if it's for a charitable cause, it's a straightforward "absolute" criminal offence - and the council can intercept the collection (usually with police help), and prosecute the collectors.  Please note: the council does the investigation and prosecution - NOT the police.

The key point is that enforcement/prosecution is "easy" for the licensing department - they only have to prove two things in court :

• the collection is purporting to be in aid of a "charitable, benevolent or philanthropic" cause (according to the information on the leaflet or bag), and
• it hasn't been authorised (by a council licence or a national Exemption Order)

The police and trading standards both have strong powers to stop a misleading collection - eg the Fraud Act (police) and the Consumer Protection Regulations 2008 (trading standards).  However, they have to prove the collection is a scam/misleading/fraudulent.  This can be time-consuming and is less likely to succeed.  Nevertheless, we strongly encourage the police and trading standards to get involved as well.

See our List of prosecutions page for examples of action taken against misleading collectors.

On the rest of this page, we give details of all the regulators which have some involvement with controlling clothing collections.

Related pages

England and Wales in dark red

Which parts of the UK are covered?

• Most of the information on this page relates to England and Wales only.  See the Variations across the UK page for details of the arrangements elsewhere.
• In Greater London the arrangements are different in respect of (a) the licensing departments of local councils, and (b) the police.  We give details of this below.

Government

Please see the Government page for details of central and local government generally.

Law

Please see the collection law page for details of the law relating to house-to-house collections - especially the House to House Collections Act 1939 and associated Regulations.

Changes in the law (at 2012: deferred indefinitely?)

Please see the page on Charity law reforms for the planned changes relating to charitable collections, resulting from the Charities Act 2006.

Introduction - a messy problem

Who or what are 'regulators'?

We mean the organisations (usually part of government) which have powers :

• to investigate collections which appear to be illegal (misleading or bogus), and
• to take action - for example by prosecuting the culprits.

Regulators are sometimes referred to as "bodies", "authorities", "agencies", "enforcers" or "watchdogs".

Below we give a summary of who the regulators are, and what they're responsible for.  We hope this will be helpful.

1. Licensing departments of local councils

Note - Greater London:  The part of this section which deals with charitable collections doesn't apply to Greater London - because the police are the licensing authority for collections in London - see the next section (the police) for details.

There are around 300 local councils with licensing departments in England.

Many of these licensing departments are part of the council's environmental health department.  Usually they have enforcement officers - who carry out inspections, investigations and (when appropriate) prosecutions.

The departments license a variety of activities - including taxis, alcohol, public entertainment, gambling and pet shops.  See the Licensing regimes page for details.

Charitable collections

These licensing departments are also responsible for licensing most charitable collections :

• street collections - eg collectors with tins, standing in shopping centres
• house-to-house collections - of money or goods (eg clothes)

Our focus in CharityBags is on the second of these - house-to-house collections - and we concentrate on clothing collections.

The law controlling house-to-house collections is the House to House Collections Act 1939 - 'the 1939 Act'.

Charitable collections - enforcement

Licensed collections.  The 1939 Act allows licensing departments to take action against licensed collectors if they act improperly.  But such action is rare.  Occasionally licences have been revoked.

Unlicensed collections.  Council licensing departments can take enforcement action against them (by prosecuting them, in a magistrates court).  The 1939 Act specifies the penalties - currently fines up to level 3, or up to 6 months in prison.

There are tens of thousands of unlicensed collections every year in the UK.  However, prosecutions are very, very rare.  Examples are :

• South Northamptonshire Council (SNC) Licensing Department prosecuted bogus collectors (called "Third World Recycling") in 2001.
  The police assisted on the ground, but the Council did the prosecution.
• Birmingham City Council Licensing prosecuted Nicholas Rees in June 2004.
• Cardiff Council Licensing prosecuted E&C Clothing Ltd in May 2009.

For a full list of them, see the List of prosecutions of collectors page.

Press releases.  A number of councils have issued press releases warning people of the problem of bogus "charitable" house-to-house collections.  Copies of some of these press releases are on our website, including Wolverhampton and West Lancashire.  See the 'Examples of collections' heading on the drop-down menus.

Related pages :

• The law on house-to-house collections
• Licensing - applications for charitable collection licences
• Licensing - registers of applications for collection licences
• Licensing - collections - monitoring, enforcement and prosecution
• List of prosecutions of collectors

See also the Cabinet Office (below) - eg national Exemption Orders (alternatives to licences).

2. The Police

There are around 40 police forces in England.

Dealing with collections - general powers

The police can investigate and prosecute certain criminal activities relating to house-to-house collections.  For instance bogus collections can be considered "obtaining property by deception".  We understand the powers in the Theft Act and the Fraud Act can be used for example.  In these cases, the prosecutions are brought under general police powers and are not connected to the 1939 Act.

Greater London, the police and the House to House Collections Act 1939 - a unique arrangement

In most of England, licensing of charitable collections is the responsibility of local council licensing departments (see the section above).  However, in most of Greater London, the police are responsible.  The arrangements are as follows :

• In Greater London (except the City of London).
  The police force is the Metropolitan Police   (AKA the Met Police, the Met or MP).  It's the largest police force in the UK.  They're responsible for licensing collections.
• In the 'City of London'.
  This is less than 1% of Greater London - it's the financial area in Central London - including the Bank of England, the Guildhall, the Barbican (and the Lord Mayor).  It's known as the 'square mile'.  In this area the local council is the 'City of London Corporation'    Under the 1939 Act, they're responsible for licensing collections.  The City of London has its own police force - the City of London Police (CoLP).

These arrangements in Greater London have the advantage that there's no opportunity for confusion between the roles of (1) the licensing authority for charitable collections and (2) the police - because in this case they're both the same organisation.

3. Trading standards departments (TSDs) of local councils

There are around 100 trading standards departments in England - basically most county councils and all the unitary councils.

They deal with consumer protection issues - relating to goods and services.  For example they deal with faulty goods and weights and measures.

House-to-house collections

Trading standards departments can investigate certain aspects of house-to-house collections.  In some cases they can prosecute.  For example TSDs deal with misleading advertisements.  The leaflets or bags delivered by house-to-house collectors are advertisements.  So TSDs can investigate misleading aspects of these.  These include any misleading references to charities or companies/businesses - such as bogus registration numbers, names or addresses.  The Consumer Protection Regulations 2008 (the CPRs) are useful in these cases.

See also the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and the Advertising Standards Authority (the ASA) - below.

4. The Cabinet Office (a central government department)

Website: www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk  

The Cabinet Office :

• is the department of central government responsible for charities
• oversees the Charity Commission for England and Wales (an independent government agency) - see the section below on the Charity Commission.
• is responsible for the Government's reforms of charity law (including implementing the Charities Act 2006).  These reforms may affect collections in due course.  See our page on charity law reforms.

The Cabinet Office and national Exemption Orders (NEOs) for collections

Under the 1939 Act, the Cabinet Office is responsible for granting 'national Exemption Orders' to charities which want to carry out widespread house-to-house collections of money or goods (eg clothes).  They're like a national collection licence.  At present, around 43 charities have Exemption Orders (eg Oxfam, NSPCC).  For details of national Exemption Orders see :

• The National Exemption Orders page
• The Law on house-to-house collections page

5. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) (a central government department)

Website: www.oft.gov.uk  

The OFT deals with consumer matters - consumer law, trading practices, monopolies etc.  It works closely with :

• trading standards departments (TSDs) of local councils
• the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

The 'Consumer Direct' 0845 telephone helpline is part of the OFT.

The OFT has some strong powers - but few of them apply to clothing collections.

The OFT and charitable clothing collections

The OFT has helped produce guidance on how to avoid bogus house-to-house charitable clothing collections. `*

Control of misleading advertisements (eg collection leaflets and bags)

Until 2008, the Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations 1988 (as amended)* (the "CMARs" for short) gave the OFT the power to demand undertakings from anyone who'd produced a misleading advertisement.  The advertiser had to promise that he wouldn't use the ad again.  This law had teeth - if the advertiser broke this undertaking (ie promise), he was in contempt of court - and could be fined or imprisoned.  Clothing collection leaflets and bags are classified as "advertisements".

Statistics:  In the House of Commons on 16 April 2007  , Jo Swinson MP asked :

"... the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many successful prosecutions there were of companies in breach of the Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations 1988 in each of the last five years; and in each case what breach took place.  [130627]"

The Minister (Mr McCartney) replied:

"Information regarding prosecutions and breaches of the Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations 1988 can be found on the Consumer Regulations website, provided by the Office of Fair Trading, at www.crw.gov.uk   [link fails at November 2010]  This records five cases since 2003, all of which were dealt with through undertakings by the companies and relevant individuals rather than by prosecutions."

Changes to the law in 2008

The 1988 Regulations regarding advertisements (referred to above) were repealed in 2008.  They were replaced (on 26 May 2008) by:

• The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (the CPRs)
• The Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008 (the BPRs)

However, we understand that these 2008 Regulations give the OFT (and council trading standards departments) similar powers to stop misleading advertisers.

See www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/cpregs/oft1008.pdf  
- an attractively presented 88-page guidance report on the 2008 CPRs - by OFT / BERR

 
Also see our Consumer issues page.

6. The Charity Commission for England and Wales (a central government QUANGO)

The Charity Commission is an independent central government agency, answerable to the Cabinet Office.  It registers charities and monitors them.

The Charity Commission's website   has a searchable index of all the 180,000 or so registered charities - the "online Register".  You can use this to check out any house-to-house collection if you think it might be bogus.  Please note it's called the 'Charity' (not Charities) Commission.  It only deals with England and Wales.

Charities - dealing with any problems (eg fraud) :

• Genuine charities - The Commission conducts inquiries into allegations of fraud etc and takes appropriate action.
• Bogus charities - With organisations which pretend to be charities, the Commission may not have any powers to take action. `

The Commission are well aware of the problem of bogus 'charitable' house-to-house collections of clothing etc, and they've been investigating the issue.  For example, see their 2003 report entitled 'Charity and door-to-door clothing collections'.

Scotland now has its own equivalent of the Charity Commission - called the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR).

See also the Charities page.

7. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)

It's a 'self-regulating trade body' - it's not part of government.  It deals with complaints about advertising in the UK, including clothing collection leaflets and bags.  The ASA can criticise advertisers (by upholding complaints) - but they can't take legal action in the courts.

For details, see the following pages :

• The Advertising Standards Authority - including its adjudications on clothing collections
• News release by the ASA on misleading 'charity' clothing collections

See also:  trading standards departments, Office of Fair Trading (OFT).

8. The Environment Agency (EA) (a central government agency)

See :

• www.Environment-Agency.gov.uk  
• www.NetRegs.gov.uk   "environmental guidance for your business"
• www.BusinessLink.gov.uk  
• Our List of organisations and resources page including the Environment Agency (EA) and related organisations, eg DEFRA.

Waste carriers licences (WCLs)

One of the responsibilities of this Agency is the control of wastes - their storage, treatment, transport, disposal etc.

With some exceptions, if you carry waste (ie transport it) in England and Wales, you need a "waste carriers licence" (WCL) from the Environment Agency.  If you need the licence but haven't obtained one, you can be prosecuted.

At March 2011, a waste carriers licence costs £154.  It lasts for three years.

However, If you're a charity or voluntary organisation, you can notify the Agency of your status and then you're exempt indefinitely from the need to get a waste carriers licence.  There is no fee for this.  It's known as a "notifiable exemption".

There's a nice searchable online register (database) of these licences on the Agency's website.

Do house-to-house clothing collectors need a waste carriers licence?

This question often arises.  People (including us) have received conflicting legal advice on this.  It's a grey area of law.  The main issue is the definition of "waste".

At March 2011 (at last) we think we've got the definitive answer to this - from specialists in the Environment Agency (Peterborough):
- Clothing collectors don't need a waste carriers licence.

The logic for this is as follows.  If householders put out unwanted goods for collection (eg bags of clothes etc) - with the intention of them being re-used in their existing form as second-hand items, they're not classified as waste.  This applies :

• whether they're sold or given to the collectors
• whether or not it's for a charitable cause
• irrespective of the status of the collector (eg charity, self-employed or company)
• also to other types of manufactured goods - eg electrical equipment, furniture, antiques and vehicles

We understand the key issue is whether the goods are likely to be re-used in their existing form.  For instance with a donated woollen jumper - is the intention for it to be re-used by someone - wearing it as a jumper?  If the answer is "yes", then it's not "waste" - and so the collector doesn't need a waste carriers licence.

Inevitably, some of the collected goods won't be suitable for re-use (eg they're damaged or too dirty).  However, these aren't classified as "waste" until the collected items have been sorted, and the waste items identified and separated (eg at the collector's depot on an industrial estate).  At this point these waste items are likely to go to one of two destinations :

• Some will go to landfill or be burnt (incineration).
• Some of the waste textiles can be remanufactured - eg by shredding, to recover the fibres and reconstitute them (recycling them) into "new" fabrics - eg cleaning materials.

Cautionary notes :

• The collection and transport of clothes etc from households to premises elsewhere doesn't require a carriers licence.  However some other activities of clothing collectors may require a waste carriers licence.
• Waste carriers licences have nothing to do with charitable house-to-house collection licences, issued by the licensing departments of local councils (under the 1939 Act).
• If you think any of the information in this section is incorrect, please let us know.

9. Other agencies

The organisations described above are the main bodies dealing with collections.  However, in some circumstances other regulators can also have a role.

These include :

• Companies House (CH) - eg regarding bogus company names or registration numbers.  It's based in Cardiff.  It's part of BIS (see below).
• Company Investigations (CI)    This is part of the Insolvency Service, which in turn is part of the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) - a central government department.
  For example, they investigated three companies running "Air Ambulance" clothing collection scams in 2010-2011 (and they closed down the companies in the High Court (London) on 2 Nov 2011  ).
• The CIC Regulator   "CIC" stands for "Community Interest Company".  This regulator is also part of BIS (see above).  In 2011, the CIC Regulator helped Company Investigations (see above) regarding closing down "Air Ambulance Support CIC" - a scam clothing-collection company.
• HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) - eg VAT issues
• The Government's Immigration Service - if the collectors appear to be illegal immigrants (eg the Gotham case)
• The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) - responsible for the law in general, the courts etc

Non-regulatory organisations

Organisations which are not part of government usually have no legal powers to take action against potential wrongdoers - for example Which? (formerly the Consumers' Association), which is an independent pressure group.

Also, organisations which only provide information and advice haven't got legal powers - for example Citizens Advice Bureaux (CABs).

Regulators :
Related pages and Useful links

Note:  There are no red double-arrow symbols next to the external links below.