What happens when Big Issue vendors get smartphone access? Lives transform
Goold, and our frontline teams across the UK, equip vendors with these essential skills to thrive in a digital world. “If someone walks through our doors for the first time at Big Issue, it usually means they’re ready to make a positive change in their life,” he says. “My job is to say, ‘OK, you’re selling Big Issue – what next?’”
His approach is straightforward: there’s no formal classroom sessions, just practical help when it’s needed to grow understanding and confidence. And to help vendors use their phone as a springboard to new opportunities and support. Goold recalls a vendor who had sold the magazine for 25 years while battling addiction. When he got clean, Goold helped him build digital skills from scratch with his new phone.
“We’d practise things like applying for PIP, managing online banking, clearing debts,” Goold says. “Then we started job searching. He eventually found a job as a peer support worker for a local charity.”
The vendor initially struggled with admin in the new role. “Note-taking and paperwork were a challenge, but we practised the basics. Now he’s much more digitally savvy and doing really well.”
Success stories like this are what drives Goold. “Often, we’ll give someone a smartphone and teach them the basics – and that opens doors,” he explains. “They want to take card payments. Do they have a bank account? If not, we help them open one. Then they can claim benefits they’re entitled to. It’s a chain reaction.” And it all starts with a giffgaff refurbished phone and friendly, accessible skills training from dedicated people like Goold.
And, adds Walster, our programme is expanding even further: “We now have digitally confident vendors working as peer mentors, showing colleagues how to use their phone to stay in touch with family and friends,” she says.
The stakes can be surprisingly high. Goold mentions a vendor living in rural Lincolnshire who contacted Big Issue during a health emergency, using the refurbished phone he’d been given. “He was in a bad way health-wise, alone in his flat, but he was able to contact us. We got emergency services out to him.”
Goold also recalls an older vendor who used his phone for Google Translate. “He hadn’t been able to access medical support for back pain because of language barriers,” Goold says. “Translate meant he could register with his GP and get proper treatment for the first time in years.”
For other vendors, phones have reconnected them with long-lost family members. “It’s been great to see,” Goold says. “Some have reconnected with estranged parents through social media – something they couldn’t do before.”
Phones have also helped vendors from the Roma community navigate legal processes. “We’ve supported a lot of Roma vendors who’ve lived here for years and needed to claim settled status,” Goold explains. “That process is mostly digital now – you have to upload photos and verify IDs via smartphone. We’ve used phones to help people complete those steps and stay legally in the UK. I’ve been supporting one vendor recently whose children were born here. It’s a huge issue for her that her children are seen as British and they have opportunities for education and stuff that she never had.” Officially gaining settled status in the UK means her children will have the future our vendor dreamt of when she came here.
Our multi-year partnership with giffgaff supports direct investment in our digital champions and provides refurbished phones to vendors across the UK. The collaboration has set out clear outcomes: increased vendor income, improved digital confidence, and better access to essential services like healthcare. This builds towards the ultimate goal: financial and digital inclusion, leading to long-term opportunities to move out of poverty.
The results speak for themselves. In our 2023-24 trial, we were able to provide 250 giffgaff phones for vendors – and our research² shows that vendors who can take cashless sales using their phone have increased their magazine sales by an average of 30%, earning up to an extra £520 a year. Alongside this positive impact, the deeper connections through our F&DI work is also growing across the UK: Over the last three years 844 dedicated digital skills sessions have been delivered to Big Issue sellers, while the added informal day-to-day support provided by our frontline digital champions takes the total number of positive interventions to over 4,700².
According to 2024 research, cash payments in the UK fell from 14% to 12% of all payments, with 39% of people living largely cashless lives³. Connectivity is an essential way to help vendors secure their livelihoods.
“It’s not surprising when you say it out loud,” Goold says. “But a lot of people, especially older generations, just didn’t know what smartphones could do. This was a revelation to many. Once you open that door, it opens lots more opportunities.”
Tap here for more on how giffgaff are supporting vendors.
(1) Ofcom Digital Exclusion Report 2022
(2) Research by Big Issue’s Impact Team
(3) UK Finance UK Payments Market