"It's more than just a phone": How digital access is transforming life for Big Issue vendors

James Allerton’s phone is – quite literally – “a lifeline”. The Big Issue vendor has diabetes, which requires him to monitor his blood sugar levels continually.

“I used to have to prick my fingers, three or four times a day,” the 45-year-old, who sells the magazine in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, recalls. “Sometimes five, just to be sure. I don’t have to do that any more.

“I have a little thing that goes on your arm, and you can scan it, and it tells you what your sugar levels are and everything. If your sugars are too high or low, it sets off an alarm.”

Allerton’s smartphone is linked to an innovative glucose monitoring system, so he can use it to track his levels easily. The device has “made everything much easier.”

He is one of the beneficiaries of Big Issue’s groundbreaking partnership with mobile network giffgaff. The multi-year collaboration will see us distribute refurbished devices to Big Issue vendors across the UK, as well as provide 400 giffgaff devices to jobseekers facing barriers to entering the workplace. The partnership is helping our vendors adapt to a changing sales landscape. According to YouGov, three-quarters of adults (74%) now use cash only “occasionally or rarely” – so sellers without cashless capabilities miss out.

In our 2023-24 trial, we equipped 250 vendors with giffgaff phones, helping to increase their magazine sales by an average of 30% – each earning up to an extra £520 a year.

“People say, ‘We only carry card,'” Allerton explains. “I was worried about losing customers. But taking payments on my phone is quick and safe when people get used to it.”

But it’s not just about the money. “The phone is really good,” Allerton says. “It’s helpful for lots of things.”
His giffgaff device means he’s well connected, active in fan groups for his beloved Stoke City Football Club, and in communication with old friends.

“I have a friend who is like a sister to me,” he says. “We were friends in Derby, but lost touch when I moved away. She messaged me on Facebook, and now we keep in contact that way.”

Digital access transforms lives. The giffgaff phones don’t just provide our vendors with an income boost – they enable them to access important services, and stay in touch with their loved ones and support networks.

Life hasn’t always been straightforward for Allerton. Originally from Stoke-on-Trent, he spent much of his childhood in the care system, “passed from pillar to post”.

“I was never settled, so I sort of had to raise myself,” he recalls. “Teach myself to cook and stuff like that.”

By 2010, he was living in Bradford and working full time. When his relationship ended, Allerton moved to Derby – but ended up homeless, bouncing between hostels. It was then that he found Big Issue.

“It’s good because it gives you something to do, it gives you a purpose,” Allerton, who now lives in a rented flat, explains. “It’s a great community here in Ilkeston. My regulars really support me… people take care of people.”

Vendors run their own mini businesses, buying the magazine from Big Issue for half the cover price and keeping the profits from their sales. Sellers earn an income while gaining valuable social and transferable business and financial skills.

It’s not always an easy job. Vendors face harsh weather conditions and occasional hostility from members of the public which, for Allerton with diabetes, was worse when he had to check his blood sugar levels before receiving his giffgaff smartphone.

“When I used to prick my fingers to check the sugars people would shout abuse at me, thinking I was injecting drugs,” Allerton recalls. “Once somebody phoned the police telling them I was injecting drugs in the middle of town. I had to tell the police, look in my bag – that’s a diabetic machine.”

“Now I just check with my phone. [It also means] I can contact the doctor. I used to be able to go to the doctors when they first opened at eight o’clock in the morning. You can’t do that now. You need the phone [to make an appointment].”

Without access to an internet enabled device, many people across the UK are already struggling to access the services and support they need. Digital exclusion is a growing problem. The Digital Poverty Alliance estimates up to 19 million people over the age of 16 are currently experiencing some form of digital poverty.

Digital exclusion has consequences for mental health too. According to research from the British Psychological Society, digital exclusion is contributing to the “emerging public health issue” of loneliness – an issue that is particularly acute for disabled people.

Allerton – who uses a motorised wheelchair to get around – has experienced mental health ups and downs. The vendor’s beloved dogs, Harlow and Marley, “keep him going” but he’s also lucky to have a broad circle of friends, who he can now reach easily on the phone.

Hundreds of vendors will benefit from our partnership with giffgaff and, as Allerton knows first hand, it can be transformative. “I feel a lot more connected to a lot more people now,” says Allerton. “Now I’ve got a phone, it’s like a lifeline – and it helps me, a lot.”

If you’ve got old devices at home that could be given a new lease of life, you can trade them in online. The value of your old phones can then be put towards another device, or you can donate the value to Big Issue Changing Lives CIC, helping to create more pathways out of poverty.

giffgaffrecycle.com/trade/public