More than 300 arrested under ‘Dickensian’ homelessness law in London since January
By: Richard Tudor
Tags: London, Homelessness, Politics

More than 300 arrested under ‘Dickensian’ homelessness law in London since January

Freedom of Information request reveals 336 arrests under 1824 Vagrancy Act between January and November 2018 in London Richard Tudor Jan 2, 2019·4 min read

Homelessness charities and campaigners say the 1824 Vagrancy Act ‘criminalises’ rough sleeping Source: Garry Knight via Flickr

More than 300 people were arrested under a piece of legislation described as ‘harmful’ and ‘Dickensian’ by MPs in the first ten months of 2018, a Freedom of Information request has revealed. The 1824 Vagrancy Act, which gives police the power to arrest people for sleeping rough and begging, was used 336 times between January and November 2018. Statistics show almost fifty percent of those arrested were charged. The same statistics also show that the police in London were more than twice as likely to charge people for begging (Section 3) than sleeping rough (Section 4)

Statistics obtained from the Metropolitan Police under the Freedom of Information Act show that people were charged under the Vagrancy Act most often in Westminster, with 39% of all those charged under the act in London being charged within the borough. However, the borough most likely to charge those arrested under the act was Camden, who charged over 76% of those arrested in the borough.

The London average for charges under Section 3 of the act, which covers “begging in a public place,” was 66%. Ten boroughs had a charge rate above this average, six of which — Camden, Barnet, Westminster, Wandsworth, Islington, and Southwark — were among London’s fifteen wealthiest by house price.

Section 4, which criminalises “lodging outdoors,” saw a lower charge rate of 30.46%, but with more boroughs above that average with thirteen — including Westminster and Camden. As well as “lodging outdoors,” Section 4 also covers the collection of donations for charity under false pretences, for which one person was arrested and charged in Westminster.

Five borough councils across London had a greater than average percentage of charges of those initially arrested under both Section 3 and Section 4: Camden, Lewisham, Newham, Waltham Forest, and Westminster. Of the five, all except Westminster are under the political control of the Labour party.

Below is a bar chart which represents the charge rate under the whole act for the boroughs for which data was supplied, compared with the city-wide average of 49.11%. Twelve councils had a higher charge rate than the London average, including the five which surpassed the average for both Section 3 and 4. The bars are coloured to represent the council’s political control.

The same data, reflected in a map of London, demonstrates the regional variance between boroughs in their enforcement of the act. Large red portions on the map, which reflect a charge rate greater than 50%, dominate north-west and north-east London. The contrast between boroughs north and south of the river is also evident; with ten of the boroughs with a greater than 50% charge rate north of the Thames and only two — Sutton and Lewisham — south. Six boroughs with above-average charge rates border each other in north-west London, including Camden, which is the only borough with a charge rate greater than 75%.

Only two boroughs had a charge rate of less than 25%, Croydon and Havering, which are both on the outskirts of London. There was no data provided for a number of boroughs, which are reflected on the map in grey. This includes Kensington and Chelsea, London’s wealthiest borough by house price, and the City of London.

The 1824 Vagrancy Act, repealed in Scotland and Northern Ireland, has been criticised by homelessness campaigners and MPs who have called for it to be repealed in England and Wales. Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran has called the act a “heartless, Dickensian” law in the House of Commons, and an Early Day Motion to repeal the act was signed by MPs from five parties. Homelessness charities such as St. Mungo’s see the act as outdated and outmoded within modern understandings of the causes of homelessness. A London-based outreach worker said: “The Vagrancy Act takes a moral view on street activity giving no consideration to the complex reasons behind any such activity such as begging and rough sleeping. It is widely agreed that criminalising addicts and homeless people serves no purpose apart from to further push them to the fringes of society, towards further impoverishment and stigmatisation.”

A petition signed by over 20,000 people to repeal the act was taken to Parliament in February. The government responded by saying: “Decisions on arrests are an operational matter for the police, in line with their duties to keep the peace, to protect communities, and to prevent the commission of offences.”

As well as being controversial for what campaigners see as its purpose –to criminalise begging and rough sleeping– the 1824 Vagrancy Act has become notorious for other ways it has been used. Before the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in May, the leader of Windsor Council called on police to use the powers under the act to remove homeless people from the streets of the city.