The charity said it expects to lose around £300,000 next year after the change

One of the UK’s leading charities has announced it will end door-to-door fundraising at the end of the year.

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) expects to lose around £300,000 next year after the change, brought about by its new opt-in policy for communications.

Under the new policy, the charity will only contact people who have actively consented to being contacted.

In total, the move is expected to cost the charity more than £35 million over the next five years.

We decided that this activity did not fit with the principle behind the RNLI’s new opt-in approach

Announcing the new policy in late 2015, the charity stressed services would not be compromised, with the shortfall being covered by £97m of reserves.

A spokeswoman for the RNLI said: "About 20% of our fundraising branches did some door-to-door fundraising, with individual branch income from this activity varying from £50 to £12,000 a year and the majority of branches raising between £1,000 and £3,000 each year.

"A call on a householder at their home address represents an uninvited communication, made to someone who, in a large number of cases, will not have been asked if they are prepared to receive an approach from the RNLI.

"As such, we decided that this activity did not fit with the principle behind the RNLI’s new opt-in approach."

The changes were prompted after an investigation by the Fundraising Regulator found evidence of elderly and vulnerable people being aggressively targeted by workers for the Neet Feet agency.

Several charities have scrapped door-to-door fundraising in the wake of the report, including Oxfam and the Royal British Legion.