PSPOs and CBOs were both introduced in 2014 as part of the coalition government’s antisocial behaviour legislation. While the Vagrancy Act does not typically result in a prison sentence, unless in rare prosecutions of unpaid fines, a breach of a CBO can result in a sentence of up to five years in prison.

Those imprisoned for begging this year include John Page, 35, who was sentenced to four weeks in March for sitting on the floor of a Coventry car park to beg, in breach of a court order. He also had to pay a £115 victim surcharge. Timothy Slater, 49, was sentenced to 18 weeks in prison last month after breaching a community order in relation to begging offences in Telford, Shropshire.

In Manchester, a 49-year-old man who has a CBO banning him from begging anywhere in the UK was jailed for four weeks after being caught begging in Piccadilly Gardens in April. And Wesley Gray, 34, was jailed for four months in July after breaking a CBO banning him from begging in Gloucester 14 times. The judge acknowledged it was a “difficult case” that meant he would “be sending a man to prison for asking for food when he was hungry”.

Antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) were replaced in 2014 by civil injunctions and CBOs, both of which are now being used to tackle begging. CBOs are designed for the most “seriously antisocial” individuals, yet BuzzFeed News found many examples of them being used to target rough sleepers, who appear to have been doing little more than leaving a cup out for money.

The Ministry of Justice does not publish a breakdown of offences committed in breach of a CBO but the number of convictions for breaching these orders has risen rapidly since their introduction in 2014. Last year there were 2,772 convictions for breaches of CBOs, up from 1,966 in 2015. The number serving prison sentences for breaching CBOs has also risen from 675 in 2015 to 939 last year.

Because of cuts to legal aid, many of those facing prosecution for begging do not have lawyers. Earlier this year BuzzFeed News broke the story of a vulnerable woman who begged two strangers for 50p and was sentenced to six months in prison in a court hearing where she had no lawyer. Marie Baker was subject to a civil injunction to stop her from begging from anyone in the city of Worcester.

In some cases magistrates appear to have little sympathy for the situation of those before them. Nicola Jackson, 38, was ordered to pay fines of £180 in November after asking an off-duty police support officer for change in Worcester and was told by a magistrate to “learn the penny whistle”, a suggestion she learn to perform rather than to beg.

Many of the rules set out in the PSPOs decided on by town and city councils are so draconian that they cover even implying you might want to be given money, such as by leaving out a hat or a cup – or even sitting in a public place. At least nine of the towns and cities with begging PSPOs consider “loitering” to be a possible breach of their begging rules.

While some councils specify that it is only “aggressive” or “persistent” begging that is banned, without a definition this can sometimes include simply sitting beneath a cash machine.

In Clacton, Essex, for example, sitting in a shop doorway is prohibited by a PSPO. Sunderland has even banned bin-raking using a PSPO, meaning anyone too poor to buy food could now be criminalised for eating people’s rubbish.

Charities and civil liberties campaigners say it amounts to an attack on homeless people at a time when more people than ever are without a roof over their head.

Josie Appleton, director of the Manifesto Club, has been tracking the use of antisocial behaviour legislation and says it has escalated the seriousness of prosecutions of vulnerable people for begging or rough sleeping. She said: “A CBO ups the ante and then you get people imprisoned for sitting down somewhere.”