Begging, rough sleeping and social exclusion: Implications for social policy

Begging has become highly visible in the urban centres of Britain in recent years, yet the experiences and motivations of people involved in this acti vity have remained underresearched. This paper explores the implications fo r social policy arising from a detailed study of begging in Glasgow and Edi nburgh. It reassesses the common understanding of begging as a 'homelessnes s issue' and demonstrates that, while rough sleeping was almost invariably implicated in people's routes into begging in these cities, securing accomm odation was far from a guaranteed 'route out'. It emphasises the need for h olistic services and effective policy co-ordination in responding to the wi de-ranging social exclusion of people who beg. It also explores the importa nce, and difficulties, of securing their active involvement in policy and s ervice development.