Sporadic downpours have not stopped Mark*, penny whistle in hand, trying his luck near cashpoints in the centre of Birmingham. The 47-year-old rough sleeper sits crossed-legged playing a jig opposite a supermarket entrance.
“I’m not begging, I’ve found the loophole,” he says sincerely after a member of the public drops a pound in his plastic container. “I’m not asking anyone for anything. I’m providing entertainment.”
But the law is not on Mark’s side. A police officer could decide he is violating section 3 of the Vagrancy Act, which outlaws begging in England and Wales, and arrest him. If convicted of the offence, Mark would be judged a criminal “rogue and vagabond”, liable to a maximum fine of £1,000.
In Birmingham, arrests and charges under the Vagrancy Act have fallen markedly in recent years despite a surge in rough sleeping. West Midlands police made 17 arrests for begging in a public place in 2018, compared with 141 in 2014, according to figures obtained by the Guardian under a freedom of information request. But rough sleepers in the city centre say police regularly use the law to move them on.
It is an experience shared in other parts of the country, where banning orders for begging convictions under the act have prevented rough sleepers from getting emergency accommodation in freezing weather. Nationally, there were 1,320 prosecutions under the Vagrancy Act in 2018, a 6% increase from the previous year.
Pudsey, who left care aged 15 and moved to Blackpool for a fresh start, told a report by the charity Crisis – which is calling for the repeal of the act – that a banning order from the town centre meant rough sleepers could not access local homelessness services.
“Since coming to Blackpool I’ve now had 13 charges under the Vagrancy Act and I’ve also been taken to court twice for it. Five of those warnings I was even asleep when they gave them to me, so how could that have been for begging? I just woke up to find it on my sleeping bag,” he said.
“Half the homeless in town have been given Vagrancy Act papers now, and most of them have been fined about £100 and then given a banning order from the town centre. If they get caught coming back, they get done again and could go to jail, but that means all those people can’t get into town to use the few local services there are for rough sleepers.”
In Birmingham the council is planning a new approach, turning to civil measures as use of the Vagrancy Act falls. It is considering using public space protection orders (PSPOs) under which people found begging or obstructing footpaths in the city centre could face a £100 fine. More than 60 councils in England and Wales already do so.
“That’s fucking ridiculous. What’s the point in that?” Mark says incredulously. “Well I’ll have to beg for more money to get it. How is a beggar going to pay £100? That’s just an excuse to put people in prison.” He has a point: although violating a PSPO is only a civil offence, not paying the fine can begin a cycle that ends in criminalisation and prison.
Mark and his dog are sitting opposite cashpoints, which would be considered aggressive begging under some PSPOs in other parts of the country. “I’m not asking anyone for anything, I’m just playing a whistle. Aggressive begging is all those advertisements in the window saying buy this, buy that,” he says.
“If I was to beg, I don’t see how asking people for money from this distance could be considered aggressive. I mean, people are quite happy to ignore me and be aggressive to me. Tell me to fuck off, ‘get a job you tramp’.”
Birmingham had the second highest number of recorded rough sleeper deaths in 2017, the most recent year for which figures are available. But apocryphal tales of professional beggars who are not homeless making hundreds of pounds a day in the city have hardened attitudes to rough sleepers.
Asked about fake beggars, the West Midlands police and crime commissioner, David Jamieson, said: “It’s not what we are picking up. There are people with mental health problems that have basic accommodation of some sort and head into the city centre for company. Some of them do some begging at the same time.”
Jamieson hit national headlines last year for his opposition to posters put up by his police force that said giving money to beggars could inadvertently kill them by supporting drug addictions. He called the posters “insensitive” and “crass”.
He has given his “reluctant” support to the planned PSPOs on condition that the council provides extra support for rough sleepers.
John Cotton, a Birmingham councillor overseeing the plans, said: “We haven’t taken any final decision about this.” He said the measures were about dealing with antisocial behaviour that put off shoppers and affected businesses.
“A red line for me is that while we need to take measures to tackle antisocial behaviour … I do not want to end up targeting and criminalising vulnerable homeless people,” Cotton said.
In the city centre, Mark has had enough of talking and returns to playing penny whistle to the sodden, sparse high street, not caring if it could be a criminal act.
“If I can’t make money off this, how am I meant to fucking live? Really, how am I meant to? Should I just go to prison so I can stay alive? Fuck that.”
* Mark’s name was changed to protect his identity.
