Is it illegal to give homeless ...

A question about : Is it illegal to give homeless ...

money or food .....Is there any written law, while i know it's discouraged is it actually illegal to do so.

so for example if a policeman asks me not can i tell him I can if I want or have to do as he asks

Best answers:

• It is illegal for people to beg.
  It is not illegal for you to give money to beggars, merely foolish.
• I gave big issue seller a mcdonald's free drink collection card yesterday but I won't give money. At least she could go and have a warm drink and perhaps read the free papers.
• Also remember that a lot of beggars are not actually homeless
• It should be illegal, you are just encouraging them to be visible on the streets, and i would rather not have to walk past them on the way to work.
• I've a feeling that with logic like that it wouldn't be worth getting in to an argument with you!
• Of course there are some unsavoury people who aggressively beg which is grim. But don't forget there are lots of decent people who have fallen on bad luck and have nothing through no fault of their own. Jobs are hard to come by and people are having their benefits sanctioned for reasons that would be laughable if it wasn't so acutely harmful. We should be making sure folks don't NEED to beg rather than treating all beggars as criminals etc