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Original poster

What help do the Big Issue give to the vendors ?

27 replies

pumpkinpie01 · 04/12/2019 14:08

I chatted to a young lady selling the Big Issue on Saturday who told me she was being evicted on Monday, I saw her again today and ask if her housing problem is sorted. She said no and that her, her 5 siblings (for whom she is responsible) and her daughter would all be homeless. She is from a different city and I don't really know what help is available there so I asked her if she had been to the council, CAB etc she just shrugged and said no one would help her. I asked if the Big Issue could help her she said no they don't help in that way. She then asked me for her £50 rent money. Do the Big Issue help with housing problems, I presumed they did or am I being naive ?

OP posts:
Mumdiva99 · 04/12/2019 14:13

I think you may be being taken for a ride.... www.bigissue.org.uk/about/what-we-do/ or maybe not. I would think handing over £50 to a stranger might not be the best way to help. But it's up to you.

Original poster
pumpkinpie01 · 04/12/2019 14:16

I didn't give her the £50, I can't quite put my finger on it but I didn't actually believe her whole story. Will have a read of that article, thanks.

OP posts:
EvaHarknessRose · 04/12/2019 14:24

I think the big issue have had issues for a long time and I think some individuals will take advantage of well meaning people while wearing the big issue 'uniform'. It might be true, but they are not meant to ask for other money or items I don't think. I suspect gang control is exploiting the system. It was good when it started. What I can't get my head around, is it is meant as a hand up, and we have 'our local' big issue seller and I swear she has been standing there selling the big issue for almost as long as I've lived here and that's nearly 15 years! It's clearly not helped her move on.

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Original poster
pumpkinpie01 · 04/12/2019 14:31

Yes I didn't think they were supposed to ask either. On Saturday she mentioned she didn't have £50 for rent then today asks me for it I could actually tell she was going to ask so had my answer ready. 15 years that's a very long time ! Surely if a 19 year old (she said she was 19) went to the council saying she and her 6 dependants were going to be homeless they would be put in emergency accommodation , not given no help by all authorities/charities. She said repeatedly 'no one cares' at every suggestion I made.

OP posts:
Mumdiva99 · 06/12/2019 13:16

It might depend on why they are being made homeless - whether intentionally or deliberately - e.g. if someone just fails to pay rent, or is evicted due to their behaviour then the council will not help. However, I think they do help children so that they are not put on the street. I would imagine if this wasn't just a story to extort money that there is a massive back story behind this.

Patroclus · 06/12/2019 14:03

They basically just let them buy the magazines at half the price or so to sell on. Not much more as far as Im aware.

Patroclus · 06/12/2019 14:04

You're right to turn that down. £50 really is a nice round number for an addict for a day or so IME.

karala · 06/12/2019 14:07

this really saddens me because I've just had a very similar experience here with a Big Issue seller. She comes from a different town and has asked me and several people I know for money. It's further complicated by the fact that I'm unsure whether or not she is being controlled by someone and isn't actually getting money herself

ComtesseDeSpair · 06/12/2019 14:15

The Big Issue can link sellers up with services but they don’t really provide any significant services themselves. I’m reasonably sure though that if a young woman with many dependents and a small child told them she was going to be evicted they’d be able to signpost her to support and advice.

The cynic in me would say it sounds like a sob story. Five under-18s living with and dependent on their 19-year-old sister who sells the Big Issue for a living would be known to the system already, their schools are going to have alerted social services of the situation long ago.

Original poster
pumpkinpie01 · 06/12/2019 22:02

@karala what did you say when you were asked for money ? I thought afterwards she was maybe being controlled and that the money wasn't for rent. She told me her siblings didn't go to school , her mum had died 8 months ago , she lived with a woman and her daughter and the woman charged her £50 a month for rent but as she hadn't paid her for 4 months the woman was throwing them out. A few things didn't ring true about her story. I can't believe that a council wouldn't help though .

OP posts:
DianaT1969 · 06/12/2019 22:21

I don't understand the theory behind the Big Issue. Standing outside in the cold isn't equipping them with any training or new skills for a job. It presumably reduces their time to look and apply for jobs. They won't be able to use it for a reference. Surely in this digital age there could be a better scheme to help the homeless get a step up.

AvocadosBeforeMortgages · 06/12/2019 23:13

@DianaT1969 It's probably worthwhile considering that many Big Issue sellers have issues (eg mental health, addiction) and / or such chaotic lives that it isn't realistic to think they're currently in a position to hold down a job where they have to be in a certain place at a certain time and meeting certain performance standards.

I'm sure they'd write references for sellers - "X has sold magazines for us since 2017, and has averaged 50 sales per week, which is higher than average for our local sellers. We have always found X to be a polite and pleasant member of the local team to work with, and we are pleased to be able to support him into more traditional employment" or somesuch would be more than sufficient for most employers looking to give someone a trial.

AyeReet · 06/12/2019 23:22

Ex Big Issue seller here...

It has absolutely been taken over by gangs. This started in the late 1990s and I remember my then boyfriend telling the staff about it at the time. It used to be that you could only sell for a certain length of time, your badge was only issued for 12 months and you had to go in for a meeting to get a new one, and the staff in the office knew everyone and what your situation was. I don't know if it's the same now. But we used to only be allowed to pick up a certain number of magazines at a time, which prevented gang master's being able to collect hundreds for the people they were controlling.

I've seen the female Big Issue seller in our small town getting out of a posh car in the morning and she was being made to sit on a plastic bag to keep the seats clean in the back. She's been claiming to be pregnant for about 9 years but nobody has ever seen a baby Confused

karala · 07/12/2019 09:49

Pumpkin I'm afraid I took the coward's way out and just shuffled off with my copy of the mag.

listsandbudgets · 07/12/2019 09:57

Our local big issue seller has been about for at least 5 years. Shes Romanian and claims to be a single mum to 7 children with no support. Well given that shes always there at school pick up and drop off time and often well into the evening and Ive never seen her with a child, I have my doubts

PicsInRed · 07/12/2019 10:39

The same people frequent tourist areas of Paris giving the exact same story - well over 10 years ago.

It's Romanian gangs and the stories are nonsense. Don't give them money as you encourage the trafficking of more vulnerable people here to "beg". Any money you give to the "begger" will be handed over to the handler - as not to do so would result in serious punishment to the "begger".

ChalkieWhite · 07/12/2019 10:50

Being a 'Big Issue' seller is regarded as having a 'job', and thus qualifies one for Housing and Council Tax benefit.

dannydyerismydad · 07/12/2019 11:06

I'm afraid I no longer purchase the Big Issue. I can't work out its purpose.

Our local seller is a perfectly nice Romanian lady, but she has been there for years. It's certainly not given her a step up to other things. Her sister sells in the next town along.

I used to think it was a great scheme to get people into work and off the streets, but I just don't think it does what it is set up to do any more.

snowybaubles · 07/12/2019 11:15

We have one outside Tesco. Eastern European lady. We left the store one evening (around 6:30pm) and she was trying to get people to buy her last magazine. By the time we loaded our shooing into the car and for ready to leave she had sold it. She walked across the car park and got into a bloody Range Rover and drove off!

Professional beggars. The big issue was a good idea, but it's not working for the right people anymore.

DianaT1969 · 07/12/2019 13:15

ChalkeyWhite - Ah, interesting to know that it counts as a job for benefit purposes. That makes more sense. The seller near my work is a Romanian woman and she is on my commuter train out from Waterloo with me most mornings. Without knowing where she starts from, she travels at least 30 mins and £8 return. She has been there about 4 years. I suspect part of a Romanian gang too as shifts seem to swap with a slightly younger Romanian woman.

Original poster
pumpkinpie01 · 07/12/2019 14:21

@AyeReet that's really interesting thank you, so the Big Issue used to help more than they actually do now by the sound of it. Awful that a lot of the sellers are controlled by gangs . I saw her again and just said hello this time . I didn't want to be asked for £50 for her to give to a woman who is housing her and looking after her kids whilst she is out all day but on the other hand would have no qualms about throwing her out over £50 ,mmm not quite the truth I suspect.

OP posts:
tangledyarn · 07/12/2019 14:55

I used to work for the big issue. Sellers got little help at the time, we sold them the magazines, did some checks they were selling properly that magazines numbers matched up to badge numbers etc, signposted to local agencies. Mostly people were not interested in moving on, lots of complex issues but mostly drugs. No limits on how long people could sell for, so some sellers kept the best pitches for years. Theres still some of the same people selling in my city now 15 years on. I wont buy it anymore, dont really see the point.

Original poster
pumpkinpie01 · 07/12/2019 16:32

@tangledyarn not as helpful as I presumed then , thanks for the insight .

OP posts:
EleanorLavish · 07/12/2019 18:12

I stopped buying it a few years ago too. Eastern European organised groups. And a few times when I bought one from my car, when I’d driven off and then looked at it later it was one from a few months ago! An old one. In one case an obviously well worn one.
No way was it ‘accidental’. And when it happened third time from different sellers I thought, I’m done with this.
It isn’t what it used to be. I’m amazed it’s still going tbh. It’s just begging.
They often done recently try to sell you one, just ask for money.

Pavlova31 · 08/12/2019 17:32

Two Romanian big issue sellers been in the town where I live for at least five years now .Also a man who begs convincingly but arrives and leaves on a powerful motorbike he parks up round the corner Hmm