Big Issue Group’s (BIG) work reached 9.6 million people in 2023 signalling a stark rise in reach, support and engagements with its services as Brits continue to be trapped in an ongoing poverty crisis.
The annual Big Issue Group Impact Report showed a 24% increase in the number of people reached by the organisation’s work. The group is hoping to reach 11 million people at the end of 2026.
That’s against a backdrop of rising poverty across the UK with more people needing support for escalating mortgages, rent costs, energy bills and food prices.
More than one in five 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. This is almost two-and-a-half times the number of people in 2017.
One of the country’s leading social enterprises and B Corps, the Big Issue is continuing to come up with innovative solutions to the crisis to change lives through enterprise.
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.