Rough sleeping will no longer be a crime in the UK as the government abolishes a ‘cruel’ 200-year-old law.
The Vagrancy Act 1824 was introduced amid a spiralling homelessness crisis after the Industrial Revolution.
Most of the act has been repealed, though some parts are still in force in England and Wales to police begging and rough sleeping.
But the government announced today it will scrap the bill ‘for good’ by Spring next year.
Labour are pledging to tackle the ‘root causes’ of homelessness instead.
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They say an extra £233million worth of funding for homeless services will help tackle rough sleeping and prevent more families from entering temporary accommodation.
On any given night last autumn, 4,667 people were sleeping rough, a 164% increase from 2010, according to official figures.
In 2023, 298 people were convicted under the act.
Over 12,000 people were convicted under the 200-year-old legislation from 2013 to 2023.
The Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said the decision was ‘drawing a line under nearly two centuries of injustice towards some of the most vulnerable in society’.
She added: ‘No one should ever be criminalised simply for sleeping rough and by scrapping this cruel and outdated law, we are making sure that can never happen again.’
Matt Downie, chief executive of Crisis called the move a ‘landmark moment’ that would ‘prevent thousands of people from being pushed into the shadows, away from safety.’
He went on: ‘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.’
There have long been calls for the repeal of the 1824 Act.
A rough sleeping advisory panel, set up in 2018 by Theresa May, came out against the law, saying: ‘people who sleep rough need help and should not be discriminated against’.
The last Conservative government announced plans to abolish the bill in 2022, but their new Criminal Justice Bill 2023-24 was not passed before the 2024 election so did not become law.
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