Rough sleeping no longer a crime from next week as 200-year-old law repealed

Rough sleeping will be decriminalised in Wales and England next week as the UK Government scraps a 200-year-old law.

The Vagrancy Act, introduced in 1824 for the punishment of “idle and disorderly persons, and rogues and vagabonds”, will be repealed on Monday, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said.

Ministers had previously announced plans to repeal the law by spring this year, with fresh powers in Labour’s Crime and Policing Act passed in April intended to replace the old legislation.

Offences created under the new Act, such as facilitating begging for gain and trespassing with the intention of committing a crime, now fill a “gap” in the law that would have been left over by removing the old legislation, officials said.

Housing Secretary Steve Reed said the move would help shift “from punishment to prevention” in tackling homelessness.

Plans to scrap the Vagrancy Act were first announced under the Conservatives in 2022, but the then-government argued that alternative measures should be in place before officially removing the old laws.

They will now be formally repealed on Monday through secondary legislation, marking what charities and campaigners have hailed as a “watershed” moment.

St Mungo’s chief executive, Emma Haddad, said the change was “an important shift towards a more humane approach – one that focuses on support, tackles root causes, and helps prevent homelessness”.

Crisis chief executive Matt Downie said the 1824 Act had “punished people who have been forced to sleep on the streets” and “pushed people in already vulnerable situations away from support services and into the shadows for fear of being penalised”.

“This is a watershed moment which marks the end of a deeply cruel policy of criminalising people because they are homeless,” he said.

Chief executive of Housing Justice, Bonnie Williams, said repealing the Act should be part of a wider change in approach to helping people off the streets, which “puts the emphasis on compassion, not condemnation, and recognises that homelessness does not truly end until a person has not only housing, but the relationships, community and belonging they need to thrive”.

Housing Secretary Mr Reed said: “Homeless people are not criminals, they are people who need help.

“By repealing the outdated Vagrancy Act, we are shifting from punishment to prevention, alongside our investment to tackle homelessness for good.”