Councils must “clamp down on high street harassment” by “so-called chuggers” but must do so through negotiation with charity representatives, rather than an outright ban, local government minister Brandon Lewis has said today.
Lewis today turned down a request from Birmingham City Council to impose a byelaw giving it power to control face-to-face fundraising.
The Institute of Fundraising and the Public Fundraising Regulatory Association (PFRA) campaigned against the byelaw, and major charities including the British Red Cross, Cancer Research UK and Shelter signed a letter opposing the proposals.
Councils should negotiate agreements with the charity sector instead of using legal sanctions, Lewis suggested.
The PFRA has already signed site management agreements with 90 councils covering 250 fundraising sites, and Lewis said these have proved successful.
“Research carried out by the Local Government Association has shown local agreements are working as the number of complaints has fallen in three-quarters of areas they are in operation,” he said.
But Lewis warned that councils should not go easy on face-to-face fundraisers.
He said “chugging techniques are deeply unpleasant” and he wanted to send a “get-tough message” that they needed to be toned down.
“British people gladly donate to charity in good faith, but aggressive fundraisers risk turning our high streets into an unwelcome gauntlet of bolshie bucket shakers and clip-board waving connivers,” he said. “They ought to respect the public’s generosity and not jeopardise good charitable causes by becoming a public nuisance.
“Councils should be tough and rigid where this has got out of hand, but creating laws so that nobody can fundraise ever isn’t the way to do it.
“Hundreds of towns across the country have already put the brakes on this menace by making them sign up to sensible local rules stating precisely when and where they can do their fundraising.”
The PFRA said that while Lewis was using tough language, his overall message was supportive of site management agreements, charities’ preferred method of managing fundraising in town centres. It said it welcomed the decision to refuse the Birmingham byelaw and would seek to negotiate with the council shortly.
Peter Hills-Jones, head of policy and communications at the PFRA, said: “We strongly welcome the minister’s call for more councils to sign site management agreements.”
