Big Issue North

Big Issue North is here for anyone who needs us. You don’t need any qualifications, work experience or ID or an address or bank account to get started. 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!

We offer immediate employment, with no need for ID, qualifications, a bank account, interviews or references.

To become a vendor, make an appointment at your nearest office (see our “Where we see to you?” tab). If you have problems getting to an office, you can contact us by phone and we will try to make alternative arrangements.

A member of our team will chat with you to assess whether or not selling Big Issue North is right for you and to look at any additional support you might need. We will also outline our vendor expectations by which we expect all vendors to abide.

When you become a vendor, you will receive a Big Issue North bib and badge so that people know you’re an authorised vendor and you will be be given 10 free magazines to get you started. After your 10 free magazines, you buy magazines from your nearest office for £1.50 each and sell them on for £3, keeping the profit for yourself.

We have many pitches available across the north of England (see map) and we carry out regular outreach sessions to see how vendors are getting on. You will find out more about pitches at your initial meeting.

We help our vendors to access the services they need, including accommodation, training and education, access to GPs, dentists and other health and social support services, provisions such as breakfast clubs and home furnishing packages, and much more!

Street News, a news app from the publishers of Big Issue North, brings together the best from the planet’s street papers.

The app shares its name with the first ever street paper, launched in New York in 1989. That paper gave people experiencing poverty the chance to earn an income by selling the publication on the streets.

Since then, the movement has grown to include around 100 street papers worldwide, all with a shared mission to alleviate poverty, including two in the UK – The Big Issue and Big Issue North. Linked together in an international network, street papers have supported around 350,000 of the world’s poorest people to earn an income, putting over £24m in their pockets each year.

Globally, 4.6m people read street papers, and now the Street News app gives people the chance to reach crucial stories from their own communities and every corner of the world, all on their mobile.

The stories on the app raise the voices of marginalised communities around the world and the issues they face, while delivering positive change in the North of England.

It’s free to download, and you can read up to five stories a month without paying a penny; however, if users want unlimited access to all content, there is a monthly £4.99 subscription option. Crucially, all income from subscriptions goes to Big Issue North Trust (a registered charity) and helps vendors in the North of England to make positive changes to their lives.

Download now at urlgeni.us/streetnews, or search Street News on your app store.

Buy everything from subscription packages to high-quality merchandise from our online shop, with all profits going to support the people who sell Big Issue North magazine on the streets.

We have four main offices: Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Sheffield. We also have a number of smaller offices around the North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, but you will need to contact the main office that is nearest to you to get started. They can then refer you on to a more local office to buy your magazines after your initial assessment.

Big Issue North Trust is a registered charity; to make a donation, visit www.justgiving.com/bigissuenorth.

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