Almost 2,500 homeless people have been arrested by police in England and Wales since 2019 under the Georgian-era Vagrancy Act, among them nearly 500 people since the government pledged to replace the act in 2022.
Freedom of information requests to police forces by the Liberal Democrats showed a total of 2,412 arrests since 2019 under the 1824 law, originally introduced to target homeless and wounded veterans of the Napoleonic wars.
Merseyside police made the most arrests under the law, detaining 866 people, followed by West Midlands, with 307 arrests, and Devon and Cornwall, with 135.
Since April 2022, when the government said it would replace the act, Merseyside police had detained 119 people for vagrancy, with West Midlands police making 66 arrests.
In February 2022, MPs and peers approved an amendment to the police, crime, sentencing and courts bill that repealed the Vagrancy Act.
While the bill became law two months later, it did not include a commencement date, so the Vagrancy Act remains in place. Ministers have said the act will be repealed when appropriate replacement legislation is passed.
The criminal justice bill is intended to do this, but nearly five months after it was introduced to the Commons, there is as yet no date for its next step in scrutiny, the report stage.
The government also faces a potential rebellion from more than 40 Conservative MPs over parts of the criminal justice bill, which would allow the police to fine “nuisance” rough sleepers, a definition that includes “excessive noise” and “smells”. Under the provisions, rough sleepers could be moved on, fined up to £2,500 or imprisoned.
The Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran, who has campaigned over homelessness, said the criminal justice bill appeared to be “just the Vagrancy Act 2024”.
She said: “It is shocking that police continue to have the powers to arrest rough sleepers due to the government’s delay in replacing the vagrancy act and to use those powers to such great effect. No one should be criminalised for sleeping rough, especially by a piece of legislation passed in the Georgian era.
“Experts across the sector have long advocated for a compassionate approach to homelessness. But instead, this government is intent on treating rough sleepers with cruelty and criminalisation.”
A government spokesperson said: “We are determined to end rough sleeping for good and we have a plan to tackle the root causes of why people end up on the streets, backed by an unprecedented £2.4bn.
“We are repealing the outdated Vagrancy Act and replacing it with new legislation focused on supporting people to get off the streets, while allowing local authorities and the police to address behaviour that can make the public feel unsafe, such as begging at cashpoints.”
