HBC website:
Street Collection Licences - Street Collection Licences
From that page:
Street collections must be for a charitable purpose but do not need to be by a registered charity.
Money is collected in tins. Regulations govern this type of collection.
The purpose of the legal requirement to obtain consent is to ensure collectors are properly authorised and that
money is collected in a secure way and the total proceeds collected are properly accounted for.
The buckets don't sound right to me!