The government says the Vagrancy Act 1824 will be repealed on Monday 29 June 2026, removing the criminal law basis that has long been used against rough sleeping and begging. For policy readers, the significance is not only historical. Ministers are formally recasting rough sleeping as a homelessness and public service issue, rather than an offence to be managed through a 19th-century statute. (gov.uk) The announcement was issued by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on Sunday 28 June. The department argues that the Act has pushed people away from support, exposed them to fines and criminal records, and failed to deal with the causes of homelessness. (gov.uk)
The legal change itself was not created this weekend. Section 81 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 already provided for the Vagrancy Act to be repealed in full in England and Wales, including section 3 on begging and section 4 offences covering sleeping in the open air or in unoccupied buildings. That repeal was left uncommenced until replacement powers were in place. (gov.uk) Those replacement powers now sit largely in the Crime and Policing Act 2026 and in existing anti-social behaviour law. Government factsheets say the new framework is intended to preserve action against organised begging for gain and trespass with intent to commit a criminal offence, while not re-criminalising rough sleeping itself. (gov.uk)
Ministers are presenting the repeal as one element of the National Plan to End Homelessness, published in December 2025 and applying to England. That plan sets end-of-Parliament targets to halve long-term rough sleeping, end unlawful use of bed and breakfast accommodation for families, cut first-night homelessness on prison release, and ensure no eligible person is discharged to the street after a hospital stay. It also states a longer-term ambition that no one should leave a public institution into homelessness. (gov.uk) There is, however, a funding discrepancy worth noting. Sunday’s press release refers to £3.6 billion over the next three years, whereas the published strategy document sets out £3.5 billion for homelessness prevention and rough sleeping services from 2026/27 to 2028/29. The release does not explain the difference, and on the face of the published strategy the lower figure is the stated programme total. (gov.uk)
MHCLG is also linking the repeal to wider housing supply measures. The National Plan says the England-only strategy sits alongside a 10-year £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme, which government says could deliver around 300,000 social and affordable homes, with around 180,000 for Social Rent. The Social Housing Bill, introduced in May 2026 and also applying to England, is intended to strengthen protection for tenants experiencing domestic abuse. (gov.uk) The domestic abuse link is material rather than rhetorical. MHCLG’s 2025 Rough Sleeping Questionnaire found that 69% of women who had slept rough in the previous 12 months reported domestic abuse since age 16. In policy terms, that places rough sleeping alongside tenancy security, violence against women and girls, and access to settled housing, rather than treating it as a street management issue in isolation. (gov.uk)
The operational package behind the announcement is a mix of grant funding, commissioning and local targets. The press release highlights a £159 million supported housing grant, a £37 million Ending Homelessness in Communities Fund, a £15 million Long-Term Rough Sleeping Innovation Programme covering 28 areas, £950 million for temporary accommodation, and support targeted at 40 local areas with the greatest need. (gov.uk) Here too, the official documents are not perfectly aligned. The published National Plan refers to £124 million over 2026/27 to 2028/29 for supported housing services for more than 2,500 people, while the press release uses the larger £159 million figure. What is consistent across both documents is the move towards multi-year funding, supported accommodation and stronger prevention activity. (gov.uk)
Implementation will matter more than the symbolism of repeal. The National Plan states that a safeguarding-led response should come first where people are sleeping rough, with enforcement reserved for cases involving anti-social or harmful behaviour and used proportionately. Separately, the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 remains available where the legal tests are met, and government says statutory guidance will be updated so homelessness alone is not treated as grounds for enforcement. (gov.uk) The same balance appears in the Crime and Policing Act 2026. Its anti-social behaviour factsheet says ministers are not introducing replacement offences that re-criminalise begging or rough sleeping as such, but are creating targeted offences around arranging or facilitating begging for gain and trespassing with intent to commit crime. That distinction will matter for councils, police forces and voluntary-sector providers once the repeal takes effect. (gov.uk)
After a week of record temperatures, the government also used the announcement to remind the public about StreetLink, the alert system used to notify local authorities about people sleeping rough who may need urgent support. That detail fits the wider policy direction ministers are trying to show: referral and intervention first, criminal sanction last. (gov.uk) Sector bodies have broadly welcomed the move. In the government release, Crisis describes the repeal as a watershed after decades of campaigning, while St Mungo’s says the test will be whether the National Plan is delivered in a way that tackles root causes and improves access to support. Housing Justice and Homeless Link make a similar point: repeal matters, but only if it is followed by reliable housing, prevention and support. (gov.uk) For practitioners, the immediate change on Monday 29 June 2026 is narrow but important. Rough sleeping will no longer be an offence under the Vagrancy Act. The harder test, over the rest of this Parliament, is whether government can turn that legal reset into fewer people on the street and fewer people entering homelessness in the first place. (gov.uk)