A hand up, not a handout

Membership
£ Support
Isabella McRae
Isabella McRae
Isabella McRae is a senior reporter at The Big Issue specialising in social justice. She reports on a wide range of issues including poverty and inequality, the benefits system, disability rights, housing, health, immigration, gender equality and much more. Isabella was a winner of the PPA Next Gen Awards in 2023, formerly known as the 30 under 30. She was shortlisted for journalist of the year in the Scope Disability Awards 2024. Get in touch with Isabella through isabella.mcrae@bigissue.com
BBC’s Crongton is a ‘celebration of Alex Wheatle’s incredible life and powerful stories’
TV

BBC’s Crongton is a ‘celebration of Alex Wheatle’s incredible life and powerful stories’

Here’s how to make your voice heard against the DWP’s disability benefit cuts
Disability benefits

Here’s how to make your voice heard against the DWP’s disability benefit cuts

Stanley Tucci, Stephen Fry, Rosie Jones and more hit out over benefit cuts: ‘It breaks my heart’
Disability benefits

Stanley Tucci, Stephen Fry, Rosie Jones and more hit out over benefit cuts: ‘It breaks my heart’

DWP minister ‘regrets’ making disabled people feel anxious over benefit cuts
Disability benefits

DWP minister ‘regrets’ making disabled people feel anxious over benefit cuts

Benefit cuts are a ‘violation of human rights’ which will harm ill and disabled people, Labour warned
Disability benefits

Benefit cuts are a ‘violation of human rights’ which will harm ill and disabled people, Labour warned

Cuts, universal credit and PIP: Everything you need to know about Labour’s benefits overhaul
Benefits

Cuts, universal credit and PIP: Everything you need to know about Labour’s benefits overhaul

Over 85,000 children in Britain living in extreme poverty: ‘There’s a sense of hopelessness’
Child poverty

Over 85,000 children in Britain living in extreme poverty: ‘There’s a sense of hopelessness’

‘I’ll lose my ability to be part of society’: Disabled people fear life after Labour’s benefit cuts
Disability benefits

‘I’ll lose my ability to be part of society’: Disabled people fear life after Labour’s benefit cuts

‘Being alive is utterly exhausting’: How Covid forced people out of work and onto benefits
Five years since the pandemic

‘Being alive is utterly exhausting’: How Covid forced people out of work and onto benefits

Poorest Brits now worse off than poorest people in Slovenia, report finds – here’s why
Cost of living

Poorest Brits now worse off than poorest people in Slovenia, report finds – here’s why

Cuts to benefits would be a ‘grave mistake’, Keir Starmer warned by his own MPs
Benefits

Cuts to benefits would be a ‘grave mistake’, Keir Starmer warned by his own MPs

Why are so many people off work sick? Labour told not to forget the pandemic ahead of benefit cuts
Five years since the pandemic

Why are so many people off work sick? Labour told not to forget the pandemic ahead of benefit cuts