The Institute of Fundraising has written an open letter to Birmingham City Council urging it not to pass a byelaw which would restrict face-to-face fundraising on the city’s streets, claiming that doing so would have a direct impact on services.

A letter penned by Institute chair Mark Astarita, also director of fundraising at the British Red Cross, and signed by fundraising directors from seven other charities from Cancer Research UK to Shelter has warned that the ban would jeopardise voluntary income.

“It is almost certain that the reduction in voluntary income that would result would mean we would have to cut services to our beneficiaries,” the letter said.

The action from the Institute follows a more than decades-long campaign by the Public Fundraising Regulatory Association to engage with the Birmingham council in developing a site management agreement (SMA), which would set restrictions on the number and frequency of street collections.

The PFRA argues that the byelaw, which prohibits repeated approaches by fundraisers to members of the public over a short period of time and causing annoyance, is impossible to enforce and has uncovered internal Council documents which suggest the same. The PFRA first proposed a SMA to the council in 2008, but the council has instead preferred to use licensing laws from the early 20th century and also to refuse licences to charities. Following this in 2011 a number of charities began fundraising in Birmingham without licences or PFRA restrictions.

The Institute in its letter asks Birmingham to sign an agreement with the PFRA. “These agreements work. Town centre managers and licensing officials regularly report that complaints about ‘chuggers’ fall once an agreement with the PFRA is in place,” the letter reads.

PFRA head of public policy Dr Toby Ganley said that Birmingham’s problem with face-to-face fundraisers would most effectively be solved by a SMA.

“It is getting increasingly hard to understand what the council’s issues about working with us are,” said Ganley. “This seems especially so at a time when the Local Government Association is promoting a ‘new model for local government’ that encourages councils’ regulatory services to be ‘open for business’  through proportionate and risk-based regulation.”

A spokeswoman for Birmingham City Council told civilsociety.co.uk that the byelaw will be presented to the Licensing and Public Protection Committee in October. If passed by the full council chamber, it will need approval by Communities and Local Government Minister Eric Pickles before coming into force.