News

Commission to get extra funding to regulate public collections

Fundraising | Gemma Ware | 23 Apr 2008

Charities minister Phil Hope has confirmed that the Charity Commission will receive extra government funding to regulate the licensing of public charitable collections, though he wouldn’t say how much.

“There will be extra funding and we’re in the middle of those negotiations at the moment,” Hope told Charity News Alert.

£2m required

Last November the Commission’s chief executive Andrew Hind said it needed an extra £2m to regulate the licensing of public charitable collections, and if it didn’t get this amount, it would not be able to carry out the role.

Hope said that discussions with the Commission were proving “very productive”.

“We’ll be bringing forward a plan for rollout of the new scheme as we develop it in order to learn the lessons so we make sure it works and we achieve what we want it to achieve,” he said. 

“We have to ensure that there isn’t abuse by people undertaking public charitable collections in a way so that there are either too many on the street all at one time in one area, and also if it’s door-to-door, that it’s bona fide people doing the work.”

Existing settlement ‘fair’

However, Hope said the Commission would not receive any more funding to carry out other parts of the Charities Act and said he thought the regulator had got a “fair settlement” under last October’s Comprehensive Spending Review.

That gave the Commission an extra £500,000 during 2007-8 to help it implement the Charities Act, but a cost-effectiveness drive means it will then face a 5 per cent funding cut each year until 2011.

“That settlement’s been arrived at, they’ve got the certainty of a three-year settlement and they can plan their resources ahead to ensure they’ve got money in the right place to deliver the responsibilities they have,” said Hope.

The public collections part of the Charities Act is not due to come in until 2009 at the earliest, and will see charities applying to the Commission for a certificate deeming them fit to fundraise in public.

‘Good news and a great relief’

Mick Aldridge, chief executive of the Public Fundraising Regulatory Association, said Hope’s funding commitment was “extremely good news and a great relief”, but said he hoped that the settlement would be adequate when details are released.

The Charity Commission was reluctant to comment on the issue. “We continue to be in discussion with the Office of the Third Sector on a number of matters regarding charitable collections,” a spokeswoman said.

Tweet

Who's Who: Gemma Ware