Street collection

It is illegal to collect money or sell articles for the benefit of charitable or other purposes without obtaining a street collection licence from the licensing authority if that collection is held 'in a street or public place'. There is no fee for a street collection licence.

A licence is required for a street collection to ensure collectors are properly authorised and that money collected in a secure way with the total proceeds accounted for correctly.  

The City of Lincoln Council has adopted the following policy to date, of allocating; 

• 29 Friday and 29 Saturday collection days in each year
• One permit, per charity, per year (except in exceptional circumstances), with preference being given to charities or organisations which will benefit the residents of Lincoln 
• No more than one permit on any one day, in order to be fair to charities and the public and also to avoid conflict with more than one collection going on at the same time
• A permit to the Salvation Army for the four Saturdays leading up to Christmas.

Applications should be received at least one month before the proposed date of the collection. 

Within one month of the date of the collection applicants are required to submit a statement of returns showing the amount of money received and any expenses incurred. Failure to do so may result in future applications being rejected.