Big Issue vendors are either homeless or at risk of losing their home. The money that vendors earn through selling the magazine helps vendors to cover rent and bills. It also offers vendors who are unable to maintain other jobs, due to mental health or other issues, the opportunity to earn their own income.
As The Big Issue aims to empower people through employment, it's good manners to take the magazine and not see your contribution as just a donation. Plus, the magazine is produced by professional journalists and is a good read.
We sell the Big Issue magazine to vendors at £2 and vendors sell the magazine on to customers for £4, keeping the difference. Vendors can earn an income whilst gaining valuable social and transferable business and financial skills.
Selling Big Issue North is a genuine, legally recognised form of self-employment. Vendors buy magazines for £1.50 each from one of our offices, then sell them on for £3, keeping the money they make.
Since then over 200 million copies magazine have been sold by over 100,000 people. Vendors buy the magazine upfront for £1.75 and sell it on to the public for £4.00, and in doing so each runs their own micro-enterprise.
The magazine is produced by the Big Issue Company Ltd. The company is a self-sustaining business that generates income through magazine sales and advertising revenues. Financially, The Big Issue is a social enterprise.
Big Issue North is set to maintain its increased festive price, in order to help vendors face the cost-of-living crisis and to meet rising production costs. The weekly magazine will now be on sale for £4, available from your local vendors.
Big Issue vendors are self employed. They buy the magazine at a cheaper price than they sell it. Aside from your implied criticism of their job, that vendors are either homeless or vulnerably housed will not be a great selling point to prospective employers.
We're relying on cash less than ever before, and the EQ Foundation has joined with the Big Issue to offer contactless card readers to all its vendors. London is now a largely cashless society and most other UK towns are fast following suit. In recent years, contactless has become king.
The Big Issue is one of Britain's leading news and cultural titles. Every week's edition is packed full of original takes on the biggest issues of the day as well as interviews with the most significant figures in politics and entertainment.
To sell the magazine, you do not have to have any ID, a bank account, or any proof of address. Vendors buy the big issue for £1.50 per copy and sell for £3; the profit is theirs to keep.
Big Issue North is to close following the publication of its May 8 issue. From the following week, Big Issue vendors across the North will sell the main national Big Issue UK weekly magazine.
In September 1991, Bird launched The Big Issue with Gordon Roddick, co-founder of The Body Shop. In November 1995, he launched The Big Issue Foundation to further support vendors of The Big Issue.
The Big Issue has a unique distribution method which ensures that the magazine is 100% actively purchased with the profits going directly into the vendors' hands. Our vendors buy the magazine for £1.50 and sell it to the public for £3.00 – they operate as their own micro-businesses.
Big issue sellers buy their product from The Big Issue Company and then sell it on at a profit and keep that profit. They also have to sign up to a code of conduct. In my view that is earnings for work done under a contract and liable for income tax and national insurance like any other form of earnings.
As long as you're 17 or older, you can work with us, even if you have a criminal record. While a third of our vendors are homeless, the majority are not – people sell Big Issue North for a wide variety of reasons, and if you want to work with us, we want to work with you!
Since the Big Issue was founded in 1991 we have been in constant partnership with our vendors. They buy magazines for £2 and sell the magazine for £4. They keep the profit from every sale, and can reinvest it in buying more magazines to earn the money they need to lift themselves out of poverty.
The Big Issue has grown over the years. What started as a magazine has developed into so much more, both in what we do and who we do it for. Parts of the organisation such as the Foundation and the investment arm, Big Issue Invest, are long-established core Big Issue components. But growth continues.
Background. The Big Issue is a magazine sold by homeless people in order that they can earn an income and regain their self esteem. All post-investment profits generated by the magazine are mandated to The Big Issue Foundation which provides the support in order to help the socially excluded re-integrate into society.
Nigel Kershaw OBE. Nigel Kershaw OBE is a leading social entrepreneur and impact investor. Since 1974 Nigel created, built and scaled social enterprises and social investment. He joined The Big Issue (TBI) in 1994, eventually becoming its CEO and Group Chair.
You can now buy The Big Issue in 292 ASDA outlets across the UK, and in select WHSmith stores. The weekly magazine is priced at £3, with 50 per cent of the cover price going direct to our vendors — just like when they sell it on the streets.
