Now charities dodge ban on begging mail to pensioners

CHARITIES are dodging a ban on sending begging letters to elderly people by posting unaddressed mail, the Fundraising Regulator admitted last night.

The regulator’s chairman said that while the chances of older people being overwhelmed by the letters were ‘slimmer’, it was powerless to stop charities circumventing the ban.

The regulator was set up after the death of 92-year-old Olive Cooke, from Bristol, who killed herself after being hounded by charities for donations.

Charities sent out 243million begging letters in 2013, but a Fundraising Preference Service hotline set up this year allowed people to remove themselves from databases.

However, chief executive Stephen Dunmore told The Daily Telegraph there was nothing to stop charities from paying Royal Mail to deliver unaddressed mail to their homes.

The regulator’s chairman, Lord Grade of Yarmouth, also set out plans to stop charities sending unsolicited free gifts and claimed there was a ‘lack of transparency’ among fundraising platforms such as JustGiving.

He also said he was ‘staggered’ 100 charities had refused requests for payment. Charities spending more than £100,000 a year on fundraising are meant to pay a levy of up to £15,000.

Charity fundraising in Scotland is regulated by the Scottish Fundraising Standards panel. It now shares the UK Funding Regulator’s code of conduct rules.