Today (Monday 10 June) Big Issue Group is launching an exciting new partnership with brain injury charity SameYou, helping brain injury survivors return to work with the support of Big Issue Recruit Job Coaches.

In a survey, conducted by Big Issue Group and SameYou, of more than 300 brain injury survivors and carers, a third of respondents felt they did not feel ready to return to their jobs post their brain injuries. And of these 53% of survivors said they had to return for financial reasons.

46% of survivors have needed to claim benefits since their brain injury. Over two-thirds (68%) of these say their benefits were not enough to cover their regular bills and expenses.

27% of brain injury survivors said that they felt pressure from an employer to return to work before they were ready. 1 in 5 survivors who returned to work rated the support they received from their employers as ‘Poor’ and over 50% of survivors had to make some changes to either their role, their employer or the hours on returning to work, as a result of their brain injury.

SameYou was founded by actor Emilia Clarke MBE and her mother, Jenny Clarke MBE, to support brain injury survivors with their recoveries. Emilia suffered two life-threatening brain haemorrhages while starring as Daenerys Targaryen in HBO series Game of Thrones. She’s been interviewed in this week’s Big Issue, out today, about the difficulties of returning to work after experiencing a brain injury.

“When you have a brain injury, because it alters your sense of self on such a dramatic level, all of the insecurities you have going into the workplace quadruple overnight,” Clarke told the Big Issue. “The first fear we all had was: ‘Oh my God, am I going to get fired? Am I going to get fired because they think I’m not capable of completing the job?’”

Emilia’s brain haemorrhages occurred between filming seasons, so only a handful of the team working on the show were told straight away and she was back at work weeks after her first brain injury. In front of thousands of people and cameras, she found herself fearing that she was dying of another brain haemorrhage because of the stress and pressure. She remembers thinking: “Well, if I’m going to die, I better die on live TV.”

The new partnership between SameYou and the Big Issue Group aims to help survivors like Emilia cope with the often overwhelming prospective of returning to work after their brain injury. 61% of respondents to their survey said they would have benefitted from a Job Coach to ease their return to work.

Big Issue Recruit supports people who face barriers to work with finding sustainable employment, and this partnership will expand this support to brain injury survivors and their carers. Individuals will work one-to-one with expert job coaches to get back to work. Big Issue Recruit works with candidates, pre, during and post-employment to ensure this employment is truly sustainable.

Jenny Clarke MBE, CEO and co-founder of SameYou, said: “This research clearly highlights the many complex challenges that people who have experienced a brain injury face when going back to work. Survivors have reported pressures to return before they’re ready, as well as problems with financial difficulties, benefits and even an increased risk of homelessness.

“We’re proud to be partnering with Big Issue Recruit, supporting brain injury survivors and their carers, with their return to work by building their confidence and finding the right employment pathways for them.”

Paul Cheal, CEO of the Big Issue Group, said: “There is a clear need to create more support and clear pathways for those returning to work after experiencing a brain injury. 

“We are pleased to extend the work of Big Issue Recruit, to a wider group of people who face barriers to work – brain injury survivors and carers of people who have experienced a brain injury. These are often a forgotten group of people in society.   

“By partnering with SameYou, our ambition is not only to highlight the challenges that brain injury survivors encounter in returning to work or finding a new role, but also to work together to bolster the support we offer candidates by adding a Job Coach to the Big Issue Recruit team to specialise in this area of need.” 

If you would like to sign-up to use the service as a candidate or to learn more about how your business can support people with barriers to employment into work, visit jobs.bigissue.com, email jobs@bigissue.com or call 0207 526 3200.

Exclusive to this week’s Big Issue, out today (Monday 3 June), Paul Weller has sat down with actor and long-time collaborator Johnny Harris to talk about his new album, 66, and the music video they’ve worked on together, which shows the stark reality of London’s mass homelessness.

Harris – well-known for This Is England and a long-time collaborator of Weller – has directed the powerful video for forthcoming single ‘I Woke Up’. Asked why he chose to highlight the rough sleeping crisis on Britain’s streets, Weller says: “This country is run by idiots and fools. And it’s not like they even try to cover it up. It’s like all these grown up posh kids have all been let loose in this asylum.

“With the matter of homelessness, it’s how do you fix this? You can’t just keep moving people off and to another area. It’s sweeping it under the carpet. Why don’t we try and fix it? I’m not saying it’s an easy thing to fix.

“Some of the homeless people round my way, some I chat to, it’s a mixture of things – some people have definitely got mental problems and they should be helped and looked after, some people have drug problems and could go through a programme. But then you need a support system so that once they go through that programme they can’t go back on the streets.

“They need work to help stop that. But that’s in an ideal world. Because of all the cuts, that’s not going to happen. It’s f**ked.”

With an election coming, does he have more hope if Keir Starmer becomes PM and changes things?

“He’s just a slightly softer version of the Tory party, isn’t he?” says Weller. “He’d be well served to remember who built the Labour party, trade unions and communists. So, I don’t see much difference between him and Sunak and all that mob. The fact that he’s a Sir puts me off a little bit in the first place.”

Shot in black and white, Weller’s new music video details a day in the life of a homeless man in London, told simply and without hyperbole. It ends with a call to help St Mungo’s, a charity primarily focused on getting rough sleepers into a bed. It was partly filmed where the old ‘cardboard city’ stood near Waterloo for 20 years between the late 70s and 90s.

Harris tells the Big Issue: “The stairs that [the lead character in the music video] walked down to the place where he’s begging, that was the old cardboard city. There’s lots of that kind of stuff. I wanted to go around and kind of pay homage to that history.

“But there’s a sadness today, as you’re filming in those places, and you’re thinking it hasn’t really changed. They’ve moved the problem out and on but the statistics show a real spike recently. How is this happening, what is the root of this problem? I don’t really trust the politicians to have the answers. The answers lie within these places like St Mungo’s, like the Big Issue.”

To read the full interview with Paul Weller, buy this week’s Big Issue. You can find your local vendor to buy a copy, or subscribe online, at bigissue.com.

As campaigning for the UK general election gets underway, the Big Issue has spoken exclusively to Sir Liam Fox, long-standing Tory MP and former cabinet minister in David Cameron and Theresa May’s governments.

In an interview for this week’s Big Issue, out today (Monday 27 May), Fox calls on his fellow politicians to “get a grip and make your judgements based on reality and empiricism, not on instinct and prejudice.”

Urging governments to make global water and food security a top priority, Fox accuses his peers in parliament of politicising issues that should be seen as scientific fact.

“The data is there and unless we want to fall back into an anti-Enlightenment society, we better wake up and not smell the coffee but read the figures,” Fox says.

“I still hear people on both the left and right of politics saying ‘I don’t believe in globalisation.’ Well, that’s nice, that’s like saying, ‘I don’t believe in nighttime.’

“In business they’ve understood globalisation much better than in the world of politics. Politicians don’t really like globalisation very much because it limits their ability to have an impact over their own domestic events.”

So Fox is woke on climate related issues which includes migration, a situation he notes in his new book as being “made worse by simplistic rhetoric”. Rhetoric from government focuses on demonising people coming to our shores and “not the causes,” Fox admits.

“We have got to try to get our debate out of the weeds and start to focus on bigger issues, because those bigger issues will have a huge impact on us, whether we want to think about them or not.”

Liam Fox wrestles with these issues in his new book, The Coming Storm, which tells the story of water from how it arrived on Earth eons ago to how it influenced our evolution. It also points out potential pressure points regarding scarcity, global security and its importance in healthcare and climate change.

“When Boris [Johnson] relieved me of my cabinet duties in 2019, I decided to spend some time doing quality reading on climate,” Fox tells the Big Issue. “From my own position with a science background [Dr Fox was a GP before an MP], what did the science actually tell us?”

Being out of the thick of it helped Fox appreciate the bigger picture. “It’s not so much being outside as having the time. Government is very siloed. We think of our economics in one place, we think of security and risk in another and so on. We need to learn to join the dots.”

You can read the full interview with Liam Fox in in this week’s Big Issue, out now. Find your local vendor to buy a copy, or subscribe online, at bigissue.com. 

Actor and activist Liz Carr has given a powerful interview to The Big Issue, out today (Monday 13 May), reflecting on how she came to terms with the life-changing disability she developed at the age of 7.

“From my appearance most people will think I was born disabled, but I wasn’t, so I understand what becoming disabled means,” she writes in the Big Issue, out now. Carr was disabled from age seven, owing to arthrogryposis multiplex congenita, and has used a wheelchair since she was 14.

In her Letter To My Younger Self, Liz Carr shares how her mother recently found a “harrowing” diary entry which detailed how her younger self “wanted to die” when she was 12.

“During lockdown, my mum would ring most nights… She’d go through old diaries and call with the most harrowing bits. It would be, “What did you have for your tea? Did you know you wanted to die when you were 12?” Now, I knew I was miserable but to say I’d rather be dead? It hurts me to hear that my younger self didn’t see a future.

“I would love to tell her you’ll fall in love, have mates, travel the world and do a job people can only dream of. She wouldn’t have believed any of it.”

A vocal opponent of assisted dying for more than a decade, Carr has now created a documentary for the BBC which explores how changing legislation could affect vulnerable or disabled people.

“I was told all the time that I wouldn’t live to be old, and I believed it,” she says. “I thought I was going to die as a teenager. I thought I was going to die as a 20-year-old. Then I thought I would die by 30 So I’d love to tell my younger self that she won’t die young – because I’ve wasted a lot of my life worrying needlessly. And there’s a lot of things we do need to worry about.”

“I went on a course in a care home in Ross-on-Wye, and within three hours my life changed forever. I met a woman called Sue. She had everything I wanted: lived on her own, had a partner, worked, was funny. Sue took me under her wing.

“Before the course I’d think, I can’t get on the bus because I can’t walk and that’s my problem. They said, what if the buses were all accessible? And it was like a celestial moment. My life’s lightbulb moment. I don’t have to do everything on my own to be dignified and have a good life… That’s where activism started for me.”

Read Liz Carr’s full ‘Letter To My Younger Self’ in this week’s Big Issue, out now. Find your local vendor to buy a copy, or subscribe online, at bigissue.com.

• With 1 in 5 Britons now living in poverty, more people are turning to the trusted social enterprise
• Nearly 4,000 individuals have been given access to income generating opportunities and employment through the Group’s innovative and varied services – a 10% increase on 2022
• The online reach of the Big Issue’s award-winning journalism has grown by 57% in 2023, with 7.9 million unique users consuming its trail-blazing news and advice

Big Issue Group’s 2023 Impact Report, published today (Monday 13 May), shows a stark rise in reach, support and engagement in its services as the impact of the ongoing poverty crisis solidifies, leaving millions of Britons trapped in poverty.

The report shows that the Big Issue Group has made major strides towards its ambitious goal of engaging 11 million people by the end of 2026, with number of people reached and impacted by its work rising to 9.6 million in 2023 – a 24% increase on the previous year.

It’s set against the backdrop of a stark rise in UK poverty that’s left more people needing support as they grapple with ever-escalating mortgages, rent costs, energy bills and food prices^[1]. As one of the country’s leading social enterprises and B-corps, the Big Issue Group has spent the past three decades developing innovative services that change lives through enterprise.

More than 1 in 5 people are now in poverty in the UK and 3.8 million people are reportedly living in destitution in 2022, including around one million children^[2]. This is almost two-and-a-half times the number of people in 2017.

Selling the Big Issue remains one enterprising solution for people facing poverty to generate an income. 913 people sold the magazine for the first time in 2023, and £4 million was collectively earned by vendors across the UK, an 8% increase on 2022.

The need for trusted news and advice on social issues has never been greater. In 2023, 7.9 million unique users sought out Big Issue exclusives on issues impacting people feeling the bite of the cost-of-living crisis, from energy price fluctuations to universal credit changes. This has resulted in a remarkable 57% increase from last year in traffic to Big Issue’s award-winning online journalism.

The Group’s social investment arm, Big Issue Invest, has improved the lives of 1.5 million people through the 140 purpose-driven organisations they’ve invested in. It backs passionate social entrepreneurs to deliver projects that work for their communities, with around £45 million of assets under our management in 2023, a 20% growth on last year.

229 individuals were supported on their journey to employment through our person-centred recruitment service Big Issue Recruit. Dedicated to finding sustainable employment for people who face barriers to finding work, such as people struggling with their mental health, Recruit has ultimately placed 85 people into new job opportunities.

Paul Cheal, CEO of the Big Issue Group, said: “Our enterprising solutions to support people in poverty, be it direct or through our work with other organisations, are making a real difference to people’s lives. Whether though our work with vendors, our social investments, our person-centred recruitment service, or the impact of our campaigning, we’re determined to unlock social and economic opportunities that help millions endure the poverty crisis the UK is currently facing.

“We’d like to thank those who have supported us, be it readers, partners or investors. This report demonstrates that our work is needed more than ever.”

Read the full report to find out more about our work, and find out how you can support us today: bigissue.com/big-issue-group-impact.

^[1] There has been a stark rise in UK poverty rates in 2023: https://www.jrf.org.uk/uk-poverty-2024-the-essential-guide-to-understanding-poverty-in-the-uk#_-poverty-has-increased-close-to-pre-pandemic-levels

^[2] More than 1 in 5 people in the UK (22%) were in poverty in 2021/22 – 14.4 million people: https://www.jrf.org.uk/uk-poverty-2024-the-essential-guide-to-understanding-poverty-in-the-uk

Today (Wednesday 8 May), Big Issue Group has issued an open letter to Rishi Sunak, Keir Starmer and other political leaders calling for five urgent and essential poverty prevention policies to be implemented by whoever emerges victorious in the upcoming General Election.

1 in 5 people in the UK live in poverty[1]. There are a reported 14 million people struggling to meet their most basic needs, including 4 million children. Over the past 30 years, there has been the biggest increase in child poverty since records began.[2]

The Big Issue Group has demanded an end to this crisis, with their letter recommending a number of key changes the next government can implement within their first year of office in order to dismantle poverty.

The five policies are built around the five strategic pillars that the organisation has put in place in order to dismantle poverty and to change lives through enterprise.

The poverty prevention policies outlined in the open letter are:

• Build more social and affordable housing, and commit to providing high-quality public services and infrastructure as part of the build.  
• Provide universal free school meals to all school-age children, including outside of term-time. 
• Replace the increasingly punitive job-seeker benefits system, with back to work support mentorship, confidence building and realistic routes to sustainable employment. 
• Outlaw high-interest credit and loans, and ensure access to affordable, equitable and fair replacements. 
• Invest in reskilling workers in green energy, using the Just Transition criteria.

Big Issue Group believes this multi-faceted approach to reinventing systems at the heart of government is the only route to dismantle poverty for good.

The public are invited to back these policy calls by signing the open letter, which can be found on the Big Issue’s website.

Lord John Bird, founder of the Big Issue, said: “The time has gone for a light touch approach from any incoming government. Clear and real change is essential. Failure to act now will be catastrophic.

“Our message to the next government is simple – if the electorate put their trust in you, do not pass up this chance to end poverty for good.”

Big Issue Group’s open letter can be read in full on their website, where the public can sign to show support: www.bigissue.com/campaigns/end-poverty/

[1] More than 1 in 5 people in the UK (22%) were in poverty in 2021/22 – 14.4 million people: https://www.jrf.org.uk/uk-poverty-2024-the-essential-guide-to-understanding-poverty-in-the-uk

[2] Poverty in the UK: Statistics by Brigid Francis-Devine 8 April 2024, citing DWP, Households Below Average Income, 2022/23, pg 23.

John Bird, founder of the Big Issue and crossbench peer, called on the Government to commit to long-term and focused approach to poverty prevention in a House of Lords debate last night (29 April).

Lord Bird argued that the current governmental model, which sees a plethora of departments tasked with reviewing and executing poverty policy, leads to an ineffective scattergun approach. His Bill for a Ministry of Poverty Prevention, which had its first reading in the Lords earlier in April, proposes centralising efforts to reduce poverty under one governmental remit.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation reports that around 30% of UK children (4.3 million) live in poverty, which has a long-term impact on their future health, wellbeing and economic prospects. These children face a high risk of deeper and more persistent poverty throughout their lifetime.^[1]

John Bird was born into poverty, brought up in care, and spent long spells in the 50s and 60s rough sleeping. Since being made an independent peer in 2015, he’s dedicated his time to seeing poverty eradicated within his lifetime.

Speaking in yesterday’s debate, Lord Bird said: “I alert people to my belief that, in the seven or eight years I have been in the House of Lords, I have never come to a debate or discussion where the root causes of things are dealt with.

“I believe strongly that one of the main problems we have is that Governments, Oppositions, and people who have worked for many years in and around poverty are always dealing with the effects of poverty; they do not deal with the root causes.

“This is why I am campaigning to change the way we deal with poverty. We have a situation in which eight government departments are dealing with poverty, but we do not have a convergence to dismantle it.

“Some 40% of government expenditure is spent on poverty; we really need to change that. That is why I am calling for a Ministry of Poverty Prevention.”

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Department for Work and Pensions, Viscount Younger of Leckie, was the responding minister.

“The early years, as I am sure the noble Lord will agree, are vital to securing good outcomes for children,” the Viscount told the House. “That is why we continue to work across government to ensure the best start for all children, including through our early years childcare provision and funding for school breakfast clubs.

“We understand that many families still face challenges, we are not shying away from that, and we will continue to work to ensure that the welfare system supports families who need it.”

Peers from across the parliamentary spectrum engaged in the debate, including Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour), Baroness Janke (Liberal Democrat) and the Earl of Effingham (Conservative).

Read more about Lord Bird’s Ministry of Poverty Prevention Bill by visiting bigissue.com/campaigns/ministry-of-poverty-prevention.

[1] https://www.jrf.org.uk/child-poverty

In a new statement, the Renters’ Reform Coalition have criticised the “weakened” Renters (Reform) Bill ahead of its final report stage in the Commons today (Wednesday 23 April).

Lord John Bird, founder of the Big Issue and crossbench peer, and a Champion of the Renters’ Reform Coalition, supports their criticism, and has vowed to further scrutinise the Bill ahead of its reading in the House of Lords.

Lord Bird said: “The government benches have continuously weakened the Renters Reform Bill throughout its passage in the Commons. I agree with the Renters’ Reform Coalition’s statement today that, if passed in its current form, it will be a complete failure for renters across the country, who deserve secure, safe, and affordable housing. Unfortunately, this government is breaking its manifesto promise of a better deal for renters.

“I look forward to the Renters Reform Bill coming to the Lords, where I intend to do what I can to make the legislation deliver for the millions of renters that desperately need stronger protection from those landlords who are unethical.”

Exclusive to this week’s Big Issue (Monday 22 April), new dad Olly Murs has reflected on his life journey – from being catapulted to fame on the X Factor, to presenting it alongside close friend Caroline Flack, whose death by suicide had a huge impact on him.

“I would love to talk to Caroline again,” Olly tells the Big Issue. “She was a huge part of my life and career. Special person, special friend. We had an interesting relationship, but it was great.

“It’s mad because people say they visit you in your dreams. Caz does that quite frequently actually. It’s lovely when people that pass away do that.

“Since Caroline passed, I’ve made those moments. It’s the most surreal moment but it’s lovely when them days happen. I’d love to see Caz again and chat to her.”

Observing that life in the spotlight takes its toll on celebrities’ mental health, Murs admits to having therapy to cope with his own issues. “Anyone in this profession has suffered from some mental health issues. Everyone I’ve met – everyone – has suffered with depression or anxiety or worry. Talking to other people is the most important thing.

“At some point in my life, I had to go and see a therapist. For someone who’s looked at as a bit of a geezer I’m not afraid to admit that. Sometimes you just need another voice from the outside that isn’t family, that aren’t your friends, to get to the nitty gritty of who you are and understand why you’re feeling like this.”

Olly reflects on how people’s attitude towards him changed after his success on the sixth series of the X Factor, on which he was runner-up in 2009.

“When I did The X Factor I came back to Essex to do a gig. I’d been in this club probably three months before. There were a couple of girls I had been speaking to that I tried to, you know, you’d see them and think, oh, I’d love to go on a date with her. I’d ask them and they’d go, you’re not my cup of tea.

“That night, I walked in, one of them was front row. She was screaming, looking at me and giving me all this. About two songs in I said, ‘Do you know what’s really amazing about doing this gig tonight? I can see how shallow some people are now that I’m famous, whereas before you didn’t care.’”

Fresh off the back of welcoming his first child, baby Madison, last week, Olly Murs has considered advice he’d give his 16-year-old self in a ‘Letter To My Younger Self’ – a reader favourite Big Issue column that has previously featured the likes of Noel Gallagher, Dolly Parton and Sir Paul McCartney.

“When it comes to love I’d say to my younger self, just trust the process,” he reflects. “Trust the journey you go on Olly.

“I’d been in a few relationships before I went on The X Factor and they were learning experiences. It made me realise what I wanted in a relationship. I lost my virginity quite late on, 19-20. I didn’t rush into anything. I kept my cool.”

Read Olly Murs’ full ‘Letter To My Younger Self’ in this week’s Big Issue, out now. Find your local vendor to buy a copy, or subscribe online, at bigissue.com.

Today, Friday 19 April 2024, the Prime Minister has unveiled a series of welfare reforms he wishes to roll out if the Conservative government wins the next general election.

In response to his proposal Paul Cheal, CEO of the Big Issue Group, said: “Like the Prime Minister, we believe that, with the right approach, people can be moved into sustainable employment.

“However, we believe the solution to ensuring people facing barriers to work find sustainable and fulfilling employment is to put in place measures and programmes that offer bespoke support for individuals on a case by case basis.  

“We launched Big Issue Recruit (BIR), our specialist recruitment service, in 2022, with a very clear objective: to give marginalised people the same access to job opportunities as everyone else. BIR is a person-centred service, supporting individuals pre, during and post-employment. Our Job Coaches work closely with all candidates to ensure they are upskilled in appropriate areas and equipped with the tools required to successfully move into, and sustain, employment. Our candidates range from prison leavers, caregivers, those with skills gaps, to people experiencing social, health, financial or digital barriers to work. We recently reported more than £755,000 of social value in BIR’s first year of operation. To date, BIR has registered and supported 229 candidates with 102 securing employment.

“We have shown that, with the right approach we can get the right people with the right skills into sustainable employment. We would urge the government to review our model to make sure that their welfare reforms do not leave those facing barriers to work out in the cold.”

For further comment, please email press@bigissue.com.

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