Sleeping Rough: Decriminalisation
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to her Department's press release entitled Rough sleeping to be decriminalised after 200 years, published on 10 June 2025, how the approach to a replacement regime differs to that of the previous Government.
Answered by Rushanara Ali
As we work to fulfil our manifesto commitment to get the country back on track to ending homelessness, one principle must be clear – no one should be criminalised for simply sleeping rough. We will be the government that repeals the Vagrancy Act 1824.
This government does not wish to target or criminalise individuals who are begging to sustain themselves or who are sleeping rough because they have nowhere else to go. This is why this government is introducing new specific offences which deal with specific risks. These targeted replacement measures include a new offence of facilitating begging for gain, and an offence of trespassing with the intention of committing a crime, both of which were previously provided for under the 1824 Act.
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