Charity street collections are covered by the same act the governs collections in England and Wales – the Police, Factories etc (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1916 – but there is separate guidance that means that permits for cash collections are issued by the police and not councils. The ambiguity surrounding collections of direct debits applies.
Door collections are governed by the House-to-House Charitable Collections Act (NI) 1952, which stipulate that a licence must be obtained from the police or that an exemption order to cover the whole of Northern Ireland, can be obtained from the Department for Social Development. Like the equivalent act in England and Wales, this encompasses cash and direct debits.
Until very recently Northern Ireland had no dedicated charity law as such. This situation has changed with the passage by the NI Assembly of the Charities Act (NI) 2008 which is being implemented in stages. The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland (CCNI) was set up in June 2009. And a public fundraising licensing regime is expected to be exactly the same as that contained in the Charities Act 2006 for England and Wales. This is expected to be in force by 2011. However, unlike England and Wales, the CCNI will issue permits for a time before transferring this duty to local authorities.
Very little F2F activity is currently undertaken in Northern Ireland.