Birmingham agrees new rules to restrict chuggers
New regulations have been introduced to restrict the number of charity fundraisers – so-called chuggers – operating in Birmingham City Council.
The council, in collaboration with the Institute of Fundraising (IoF), have signed a new partnership agreement.
The agreement was initially piloted through a three-month trial last year, but has now been extended on a rolling one year basis.
Chris Neville, Head of Licensing at Birmingham City Council, said: “Following the success of our trial agreement with the IoF, introduced last July, there’s been a significant reduction in the number of complaints we receive about face-to-face fundraising and its impact on the public and local businesses.
“This new 12-month agreement will see fewer fundraisers in the city centre, which we welcome, and we will continue to work in partnership with IoF going forward.”
The trial was based on restricting the number of zones in the city centre within which the fundraisers would be permitted to operate to a maximum of three per day, with no more than four fundraisers working in any one zone. This limited the total number of fundraisers to 12 per day across the city centre.
Officers were asked to monitor the trial and to aim to reduce the number of zones in daily use from three to two.
The IoF is a professional membership body for UK fundraising and represents fundraisers working on behalf of charities. It operates site management agreements (SMA) in many towns and cities across the UK in conjunction with local authorities.
The purpose of an SMA is to agree with the IoF when and where face to face fundraising can take place and how many fundraisers are permitted to operate at any one time. The IoF issues guidelines for its members and can impose fines on companies disregarding the rules.
A public consultation carried out last autumn showed 90% of those responding objected to being approached by the fundraisers, with 83% wanting to see less fundraising. Just 38% said they had noticed a reduction in the number of fundraisers since the trial began.
The zones see New Street split into two to ensure fundraisers don’t work at both ends of the busy street on the same day. The first zone splits the busy street between High Street and Corporation Street, with fundraisers restricted to Mondays and Fridays. The second zone splits New Street between Corporation Street and Victoria Square and restricts the chuggers to Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Other zones are: Cherry Street/Union Street (Mondays and Fridays); Colmore Row (Mondays and Fridays); High Street (Tuesday and Thursdays); and Corporation Street (Tuesdays and Thursdays).
There will be no fundraising permitted on Wednesdays and at weekends.
