West Yorkshire has country's highest number of prosecutions under 'Dickensian' 1824 Vagrancy Act

Fresh calls have been made for a repeal of the Vagrancy Act after new figures showed West Yorkshire recorded the highest number of prosecutions for begging in the country under a law passed nearly 200 years ago.

The number of prosecutions in the area in 2019/20 was 311, according to figures provided by the Crown Prosecution Service in response to a Freedom of Information request. The figure represented more than 20 per cent of the entire tally of 1,422 for England and Wales over the same period.

Lib Dem MP Layla Moran, who is leading cross-party efforts in Parliament to repeal the 1824 Vagrancy Act, said it was high time the “Dickensian law” was scrapped and national charity Homeless Link said criminalising the homeless did not address the root causes of their problems.

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Both contrasted the efforts made to shield homeless people during the Covid-19 pandemic with continued use of the Vagrancy Act, which was introduced in response to a large number of destitute veterans who had returned home following the Napoleonic Wars, which ended in 1815.

West Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Mark Burns-Williamson said the impact of persistent aggressive begging could not be ignored but added in principle he had “no problem with looking again at the Vagrancy Act to ensure it is fit for purpose.”

A spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said the government had reviewed the Act and the outcome would be announced “in due course”.

It is unclear why the number of cases reaching magistrates’ courts in West Yorkshire is so high when use of the Act has generally been falling across the country in recent years as local authorities have increasingly used targeted anti-social behaviour measures, such as Public Spaces Protection Orders, instead.

File pic: A beggar on the streets of a British city. SWNSFile pic: A beggar on the streets of a British city. SWNS
File pic: A beggar on the streets of a British city. SWNS
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Merseyside, with 275 cases, was the only area to come close to West Yorkshire in 2019/20 while South Yorkshire, North Yorkshire and Humberside recorded just 13, 7 and 9 respectively.

Nationally, prosecutions for begging under the Vagrancy Act in the last ten years peaked in 2014/15 when the number reached 3,071. Cases have generally fallen since then with the 2019/20 total of 1,422 the lowest of the decade.

Layla Moran, Lib Dem MP for West Oxford and Abingdon, is sponsoring a Private Member’s Bill to repeal the Act with support from Tory, Labour, Green and Plaid Cymru MPs.

She said: “The fact that over a thousand cases were brought under the Vagrancy Act in 2019/20 is really concerning. If the Government’s homelessness reduction strategy was really working, we’d surely see a much bigger reduction in prosecutions.

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“The pandemic has shown what’s possible when it comes to taking rough sleepers off our streets. 311 charges were made under the Act in 2019/20 in West Yorkshire alone – high use of this Dickensian law undermines such measures.”

Helen Mathie, head of policy at Homeless Link, said it was continuing to support the campaign to repeal an Act that “has no place in today’s society.”

She said: “While the country thankfully saw a reduction in prosecutions for begging in 2020, it is worrying that those for West Yorkshire rose steeply.

“Criminalising people who are homeless or in need of support does not address the root cause of the issue, and in fact drives people further away from the services that are in place to help end their homelessness or fulfil other support needs.

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“It is particularly unhelpful at a time when services are trying to protect the health of their communities during the Covid pandemic.

Mark Burns-Williamson, West Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) said enforcement action is usually deployed as the last option and support to help people into appropriate accommodation and access services was being provided across West Yorkshire.

He added: “In principle, I have no issues with looking again at the Vagrancy Act to ensure it is fit for purpose and there is clearly more work and context required to fully understand the figures, which are on a par with a similar size metropolitan area like Merseyside for example.”