Inspired by Street News, a newspaper sold by homeless people in New York City, The Big Issue was founded in 1991 by John Bird and Gordon Roddick (husband of The Body Shop entrepreneur Anita Roddick) as a response to the increasing numbers of homeless people in London.
Social entrepreneur, John Bird is best known for being the co-founder of The Big Issue, a major international magazine created to help homeless people have a legitimate source of income. John is also the founder of The Big Issue Foundation, The International Network of Street Papers and Big Issue Invest.
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.
The Big Issue then settled into a new equilibrium quite different to its original intentions. Whilst many vendors remain genuine homeless people, if the streets of London are anything to go by then it is now predominantly merely another income stream for the Roma, albeit surely a meagre one.
To complement the self-help ethos of The Big Issue magazine, The Big Issue Foundation was established in 1995 as an independently registered charity committed to supporting Big Issue vendors that have chosen to work themselves out of poverty by selling The Big Issue magazine.
Over the Christmas period, vendors bought Big Issue North from our regional offices for £2 per magazine, and sold it to readers for £4, keeping the money they make. This means that vendors get £2 in their pocket for every magazine they sell – an extra 50p compared to the previous prices.
The Big Issue is a con. It may not have started that way, but for the last fifteen years, while I have been aware of it, it has been. It is successful because it has a great narrative – buy a magazine and help someone off the street. A simple message – but a complete load of rubbish for many reasons.
Vendors must stand when selling if they are able to do so. Vendors must not beg for money using the magazine (asking for spare change or other items is considered to be begging). Vendors can only charge the cover price (£4) for each magazine and must always give the customer the magazine once paid for.
To save time and money, it is common for large families in which multiple members sell Big Issue North to pool financial resources to purchase a car, which one member can then use to buy everyone's magazines for the week and to drive their partner, siblings, parents, children, cousins, aunts or uncles who also sell the ...
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.
How much does a Vendor make at The Big Issue in the United Kingdom? Average The Big Issue Vendor yearly pay in the United Kingdom is approximately £33,117, which is 11% above the national average.
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.
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.
Danyal Sattar, CEO of BII, commented: “There is ever more need to provide critical investments in social enterprises which address social inequality and poverty. That impact can only be delivered through forging deeper relationships with the investment community.
The Big Issue is one of the UK's leading social businesses and exists to offer homeless people, or individuals at risk of homelessness, the opportunity to earn a legitimate income, thereby helping them to reintegrate into mainstream society. It is the world's most widely circulated street newspaper.
Of the 3,500 vendors currently registered by the Big Issue, 25 per cent are Romanian or Roma, 66 per cent British and the remainder other nationalities.
Corruption and low living standards have been identified as the main reasons why young people left Romania in 2020. Nevertheless, 21.8 percent of respondents said that the lack of job opportunities in Romania was also an essential factor in their decision to leave the country.
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. In 2005 Big Issue Invest was launched, with the aim of extending The Big Issue's mission by financing the growth of social enterprises and charities across the UK.
Each vendor is given a Photo I.D Badge and are given a pitch. Vendors have two weeks to buy a Big Issue red tabard which costs £15, this is refundable when they decide to move on.
Is begging illegal in the UK? Begging has been illegal in the UK since the introduction of the 1824 Vagrancy Act. The slight exception is in Scotland, where begging is legal unless it is deemed to be aggressive.
In 2022, Big Issue Invest funded and assisted 138 social enterprises and charities, who in turn have worked with over 2 million people. Most of these organisations are delivering solutions that tackle poverty. We also understand the importance of initiatives that prevent poverty and social inequality.
Vogue's main purpose is to entertain the audience whilst The Big Issue explores current affairs and problems within society. This provokes a reaction from the audience thus encouraging them to act.
