Government to decriminalise rough sleeping

MHCLG said it has boosted funding for homelessness services by an extra £233m this financial year, bringing total investment for 2025-26 to nearly £1bn.

Angela Rayner, deputy prime minister and housing secretary, will also be developing a new homelessness strategy with other government departments and mayors and councils, which MHCLG said will be published later this year.

Ms Rayner said: “We are drawing a line under nearly two centuries of injustice towards some of the most vulnerable in society, who deserve dignity and support. 

“No one should ever be criminalised simply for sleeping rough and by scrapping this cruel and outdated law, we are making sure that can never happen again.”    

Rushanara Ali, the minister for homelessness, said: “Today marks a historic shift in how we’re responding to the rough sleeping crisis, by repealing an archaic act that is neither just nor fit for purpose.

“Scrapping the Vagrancy Act for good is another step forward in our mission to tackle homelessness in all its forms, by focusing our efforts on its root causes.”

Cracking down on organised begging

The government said its amendments to the Home Office’s Crime and Policing Bill will “focus on real crime and not rough sleeping”, with no replacement of previous legislation that criminalised people for simply sleeping rough. 

New targeted measures include a new offence facilitating begging for gain and an offence of trespassing with the intention of committing a crime, both of which were previously included under the 1824 act.   

The government said that organised begging, which is often facilitated by criminal gangs, “exploits vulnerable individuals, and can undermine the public’s sense of safety”. This offence makes it unlawful for anyone to organise others to beg, such as driving people to places for them to beg. 

It will allow the police to crack down on the organised crime gangs that exploit vulnerable people to obtain cash for illicit activity, the government said.

Sector reaction

Homelessness charities have welcomed the government’s announcement to scrap the Vagrancy Act.

Matt Downie, chief executive of Crisis, said: “This is a landmark moment that will change lives and prevent thousands of people from being pushed into the shadows, away from safety. 

“For 200 years, the Vagrancy Act has meant that people who are homeless are treated as criminals and second-class citizens. It has punished people for trying to stay safe and done nothing to address why people become homeless in the first place.  

“Ending the use of the Vagrancy Act recognises a shameful history of persecuting people for poverty and destitution, something that figures like William Wilberforce and Winston Churchill warned against in their opposition to the act.  

“It is of great credit to the UK government that they have shown such principled leadership in scrapping this pernicious act. We hope this signals a completely different approach to helping people forced onto the streets and clears the way for a positive agenda that is about supporting people who desperately want to move on in life and fulfil their potential. We look forward to assisting the UK government with their forthcoming homelessness strategy to do exactly that.” 

Emma Haddad, chief executive of St Mungo’s, said that the repeal of the Vagrancy Act, which criminalises rough sleeping, “cannot come soon enough”. 

“Right now, we are supporting thousands of people who are rough sleeping; everyone facing this issue has their own heartbreaking story to tell of how they ended up on the streets – from complex mental and physical health issues, to an increasingly unaffordable housing market,” she said. 

“The answer is not to criminalise people for living on the streets but instead to focus on tackling the health, housing and wider societal issues that are causing homelessness in the first place.”