The Big Issue

Looks as if someone should ask the BI organisers for Warwickshire what's going on. There is a national and local telephone number in the magazine. Letters, emails and texts can also be sent.
I buy it whoever I'm in town, read it on the bus and leave it in the free Metro basket so that someone else can read it. Over several years I've almost always been promptly offered change.
I've three times complained to the organisers. A male seller was hassling, shouting at and pushing a young female seller. A suburban seller was selling out of date issues, I told him not to but he was back next day. The third seller was getting in front of people and being mildly aggressive.
Just before Christmas I was worried about a seller outside a north London Tesco. She was sitting on the pavement so was easily overlooked, didn't seem to speak English and looked generally down and unhappy.

I've emailed the organisers, just hope they can check up on the towns mentioned.

I have begun to feel very uneasy about how the Big Issue is sold. I have lived in my current house for 20 years. In all that time the Big Issue vendor in our local town has been different members of the same Roumanian family; father, son and now son's wife.

I do not see it as a sign of a Roumanian gang, but I thought that the purpose of the Big Issue was to help people get back on their feet and that selling the Big Issue was part of a transition from homelessness and possible other problems like drug or alcohol addiction or mental illness into a world of stable accommodation and eventually the mainstream world of work. I can see it also playing a part helping some refugees get established in this country. However I do not see how having different closely related members of one family selling the magazine for 20 years at least in one location can in any way meet the purpose for which Big Issue was founded.

If you sell the Big Issue it does qualify you for a host of benefits, and while I do not normally see benefit scroungers hiding under every bush. I do wonder why this family have kept such a grip on this 'franchise'. They should have moved on by now.

One of the homeless men I work with has been selling the BI for many years, he claims no benefits and without help he has absolutely no chance of finding accommodation. He hasn't got enough points to put in a successful bid for social housing and he doesn't make enough money to afford a deposit for a private rental (if there were any available and affordable, which there aren't). The BI sellers I know all have their own registered pitch. I don't know a single one who claims the additional benefits they may be entitled to although under the new Universal Credit scheme that may change.

Hope some good comes from your email Elrel I'd go back to buying the BI if it was being sold as originally intended.

I suppose there's always going to be abuse of any system like this by unscrupulous people. Meanwhile the genuinely needy suffer from the backlash.

Homeless charities - and the Big Issue organisation itself do a lot to help their sellers find suitable accommodation, usually through Housing Associations, who set aside properties to help people in greatest need like your seller.

Once in accommodation they are entitled to Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit, and I would be surprised if they did not claim it as the agencies helping them find accommodation will help with benefit claims and while you may not know any sellers who claim benefit. There have been articles in, I think, the Big Issue itself explaining, how selling the Big Issue. which enables sellers to claim benefits has been part of the package that gets them securely on their feet again.

Do not get me wrong, I am not against Big issue sellers claiming benefits. If it helps them get on their feet, that is what the benefits are there for. My particular concern is that three members of one family, have been selling The Big Issue on the same site for over 20 years. I do think by now they should have got their problems sorted and have moved into mainstream employment. They must have accommodation as the son and wife now have 5 children most of them under 10. I also feel by monopolising this pitch for such a long time, they are pitch blocking and others who need the pitch and want to get back into mainstream society anre waiting longer than they need to.

The person with responsibility for the Big Issue in Stratford upon Avon and Leamington Spa has replied to my e-mail. He does not accept that gangs are controlling sellers in his area.
If anyone wants his contact details I will let you have them

The last time I bought it, it was £2 - which I thought was a bit steep as, as you say Luckygirl, it is a bit boring and I only used to flick through it.

I don't think you should feel at all guilty about expecting your change. It is one thing you deciding that you want to give a bit more, it is quite another the seller seemingly trying to avoid giving you your change. I wouldn't think that's a very good move on her part - it will put people off buying, it would me.

I'd have felt more treasured had he said he'd look into it, rather that an outright denial Elrel - was there no indication that he would do so?

Must say there were no Big Issue sellers in Stratford at all yesterday.

Treasured??? Blasted iPad!!

reassured

Maybe BI is so big now they cannot monitor it as well as they used to.

Unemployment in our moderate sized town is 0.9% so I see no reason why our regular seller can't get a normal job. He is quite personable and speaks well. We also have another occasional one at the shopping centre. Bearing this in mind I choose to give to charity instead by standing order and the charities claim the tax back. That way I can be sure my money is being used for an appropriate cause.

Please be treasured/reassured! He today told me he knows the vendors in the identified areas ( some posters did not say where they are). He has heard the rumours before (urban myth?) and realises that some of our posters sincerely believe them.

As I said above I will pm his details to anyone wanting to contact him direct. Contact details are of course in the Big Issue and on their website.

If posters are convinced that there is abuse of the magazine distribution system it would be helpful to let the BI staff know so that they can check what is going on.

The magazine sales and the many other forms of support offered to BI sellers have helped people out of bad situations. It would be sad to have sales dwindle because concerns are not reported.