Charitable street collections licence

Any group or person wanting to hold a street collection for a charitable purpose must have a permit to do so. This is under the Police, Factories etc. (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1916.

A street collection licence is needed to collect money or sell articles for the benefit of charitable or other purposes. We'll only grant you a licence if we think you're a fit and proper person to make such a collection.

Before you apply

You need to apply for a licence for collections from public houses where money is involved. If receptacles are left at a number of public houses and collected at a later date, no licence is needed.

You don't need a licence for Direct Debit pledges. However, you may need permission from the police or another council department for this.

How to apply

To apply for a charitable street collection licence you need to:

You can submit your form and documents to us by:

To collect in Barnsley town centre, you also need permission from our town centre services team. You can contact them by emailing: towncentre@barnsley.gov.uk.

What happens next

When we receive your application we'll consult with the police. In some cases we'll also consult with the charity commissioners. We'll aim to process your application within 14 days.

We'll grant your licence if we're satisfied that you're a fit and proper person to make such collections.

You'll need to send us a statement of return within 30 days of the date your licence expires. If your licence is for a period of more than three months, you need to submit this ideally after each collection, but at least once every three months.

Tacit consent

Tacit consent applies for this licence. This means if you've not heard from us after 20 working days, you can act as though your application is granted. This timescale only starts when we've received all information we need from you.

Tacit consent only applies if you've applied by email or can show proof of delivery from a post office or courier.

More details