In a letter to shadow ministers explaining the changes, Minister for Victims and Safeguarding Laura Farris and Policing Minister Chris Philp insisted that the Government remained committed to repealing the “outdated” Vagrancy Act 1824, which criminalises people for sleeping rough.
The ministers said: “The nuisance rough sleeping provisions in the Bill provide a backstop of proportionate powers to be used as a last resort when someone is rough sleeping and causing some form of nuisance to others.
“The directions, prevention notices and orders are civil tools that offer a tailored and escalatory package that provides for individuals to be encouraged to take up the relevant support available.
“It is only where there is non-compliance with a lawfully made notice or order that a criminal offence and relevant penalties can arise. This is similar to some ASB tools such as the civil injunction.”
However, Farris and Philp said they had listened to concerns raised during the passage of the Bill by MPs such as Bob Blackman (Labour), Nickie Aiken (Conservative) and others. “We recognise the need to ensure that these replacement powers are proportionate and properly targeted and can both protect the public and help rough sleepers into relevant support.”
They said the tabled amendments would further tighten the definition of ‘nuisance rough sleeping’ to:
- only capture actual damage, distress, disruption or distress caused;
- narrow the definition of environmental damage by removing the reference to ‘smells’;
- remove the wording of ‘intending to’ or ‘appearing to’ sleep rough.
“This significantly narrows the scope of the provisions which reflect the Government’s intention to provide proportionate powers to address actual nuisance caused. They mean they only individuals sleeping rough who have caused actual damage, distress, disruption or harassment can be issued with a nuisance rough sleeping prevention notice or order,” the ministers said.
Other amendments to the Bill will also:
- Remove the offence of failing to comply with a nuisance rough sleeping direction. “This will provide another opportunity for local authority outreach workers to engage with the individual and means the individual will have another opportunity to comply with any nuisance rough sleeping notice received. We have similarly removed the requirement on a person who is to be given a move-on direction to provide their name, date of birth and address (if any).”
- Include provision for the Home Secretary to issue statutory guidance, with a requirement on the police and local authorities to have regard to the guidance when exercising their functions in respect of the nuisance rough sleeping provisions. A new clause ‘Guidance’ expressly provides that local authorities and police must first point anyone sleeping rough and causing nuisance to the appropriate support services before exercising any of the powers in the Bill. “This will make it clear that these powers are to form part of a support-led approach to tackling nuisance rough sleeping where enforcement action is only taken where other interventions have failed.”
- Provide for the nuisance begging and rough sleeping provisions in the Bill and the repeal of the Vagrancy Act 1824 (as provided for in section 81 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2002) to come into force at the same time, three months after Royal Assent of the Bill.
The Home Office said that through the new Bill, if an individual is causing antisocial behaviour or intimidating others, they could be served with a notice that could require them to stop the behaviour or move on. Ignoring such a notice, without a reasonable excuse, could be a criminal offence and escalated to a court order containing further requirements, such as attending drug treatment.
Home Secretary James Cleverly said: “This government is committed to ending rough sleeping. To achieve this, we must take a multi-faceted approach that supports vulnerable people off the streets and ensures everyone can feel safe in our neighbourhoods and communities.
“We are scrapping the outdated Vagrancy Act and replacing it with new measures that focus on supporting people, while ensuring the police and local authorities are able to address behaviour that makes the public feel unsafe.
“This government listens, and we have worked hard to ensure these proposals prioritise helping vulnerable individuals, whilst ensuring communities are safer and better protected.”