Minister rejects call from local authority for bye-law tackling 'chuggers'

Local Government Minister Brandon Lewis has turned down a request from Birmingham City Council to be allowed to regulate all face-to-face fundraising through a local bye-law.

Lewis insisted that residents’ concerns could be addressed through dialogue with charities and by introducing local agreements setting out when and where fundraisers could operate.

The minister pointed to recent research from the Local Government Association suggesting that its national agreement with the Public Fundraising Regulatory Authority (PFRA) had led to a sharp fall in the number of complaints about so-called ‘chuggers’.

The 250th local agreement between councils and the PFRA has recently been signed.

Lewis said: “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.

“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.”

The minister added: “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.”