Introduction and Contents

Big Issue Group consists of the following registered companies: Big Issue Media Limited (company registration number 02612480), Big Issue Invest Limited (company registration number 04764982) and Big Issue Impact Limited, (company registration number 14344294) (together, “Big Issue Group”, “us”, “our” or “we”). Our Address is 3rd Floor, 113-115 Fonthill Road, London N4 3HH. To find out more about us visit: www.bigissue.com.

This privacy notice relates to the services provided by the Big Issue Group. Big Issue Group works to provide individuals affected by poverty to work their way out of poverty and supports organisations working to eradicate poverty, including by the providing the services described in paragraph 2 below (the “Service”).

In this notice, ‘you’ or ‘your’ means you, the vendor or other individual who is using the Service.
This notice tells you what information the Big Issue Group collects and how it is used to provide the Service, including your rights and how to contact us.

NOTE: in addition to processing information about those who use the Service, the Big Issue Group also processes other information about individuals who engage with us in different ways, such as through the Big Issue Group website and through fundraising activities. To find out about how other personal information is processed by the Big Issue Group (outside of the Service) please see the Big Issue Group Privacy Notice: www.bigissue.com/privacy-policy

1. WHO WE ARE

For the purpose of applicable data protection legislation, each of the following companies within Big Issue Group is a separate controller of your personal data and is responsible for your personal data:

• Big Issue Media Limited (company registration number 02612480), 3rd Floor, 113-115 Fonthill Road, London N4 3HH

• Big Issue Invest Limited (company registration number 04764982), 3rd Floor, 113-115 Fonthill Road, London N4 3HH

• Big Issue Impact Limited, (company registration number 14344294), 3rd Floor, 113-115 Fonthill Road, London N4 3HH

If you would like to contact us in relation to your personal data, please email dataprotection@thebigissue.com or write to the Data Protection Manager at Big Issue Group 3rd Floor, 113-115 Fonthill Road, London N4 3HH.

2. ABOUT THE SERVICE

The Service consists of three main service strands:

The first strand is engaging with people to sell the Big Issue magazine. Within this service strand the following types of work take place:

• Recruitment & induction of vendors

• Sales training, support and incentivisation for vendors

• Referral to third party support or specialist services

• Group activities

• One to one activities

The second strand is providing support to vendors and individuals engaged with BIG Issue Group enterprises through our Big Issue Changing Lives CIC across ten pathways: housing, wellbeing, health, money, digital, citizenship, education and training, employment, involvement and volunteering.

The following types of support are offered:

• Information and guidance

• Referral and brokerage with third party agencies such as NHS services, local authorities, housing associations etc.

• Direct support such as the provision of goods or vouchers

• Group activities

• One to one activity

• Our ‘Big Issue Recruit’ service, works with individuals who face barriers to work, to support them to move into sustainable employment.

The third strand is through our ‘Big Issue Invest’ service, working with individuals who represent and are employed as staff by our investee organisations. 

3. OUR LEGAL BASIS FOR COLLECTING, ANALYSING, AND SHARING PERSONAL INFORMATION

We process your personal data only if we have a legal basis to do so. Our legal bases for processing your personal information under applicable data protection laws include:

• Our legitimate interest: the processing is necessary for our legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third party, unless there are interests or fundamental rights or freedoms which override those legitimate interests.

• Consent: where you have given consent to the processing of your personal data for one or more specific purposes. You can withdraw your consent at any time.

• Compliance with law: In some cases, we have a legal obligation to use or keep your data.

Where we collect special category personal data, we do so under the basis of not-for-profit bodies. We will never disclose your special category data with any third-party organisations without your explicit consent.

You have the right to object to our lawful processing of your information at any time and can do so by contacting us in accordance with the ‘Contact Us’ section below.

4. HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION AND WHY

There are different ways we may use your personal information while you are accessing the Service. Some of these we will only do with your consent. Usually, we will seek your written consent but if this isn’t possible, for example if we are supporting you on the phone, and it is not possible to gain your written consent we may ask for your verbal consent so we can provide the support you have asked. We have indicated below where we will seek your consent.

Your personal data is collected and used for the following purposes:

Manage our relationship with you and manage any casework we complete for you: once you are using our services, we will use your information to help us coordinate your magazine and equipment purchases and the support that we are providing to you

Contact you: we may contact you about opportunities including giving feedback about our services or taking part in events or activities within our services or to give you updates about our services and how we can support you

Marketing and editorial activities: we use case studies based on those we are supporting to show how our services work. Your information may be used anonymously for this purpose. We would only use your identifiable information e.g. your name or photograph with your consent.

Monitor and improve the Services: we may use your information along with data about others we are supporting to create statistical reports that help us understand how effective the service is and improve it. Your information is used anonymously for this work.

Protect your health interests: we may use your personal information to assist you with access needs or in a medical emergency

Make referrals and help you access other services: where you have asked us to help you access services provided by an external agency, we will share your personal information with those agencies only with your consent

Make reports to legal and regulatory authorities: your information would be used anonymously, unless we had gained your consent

5. PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

When you access the Service, you will be asked to share information about yourself so that we are able to meet the requirements above. The information we may collect about you when you access the Service includes:

• Your name

• Date of birth

• Your gender

• Your contact information (including your telephone number, postal address and email address)

• Your current housing status

• Information about other services you are accessing and how you were referred to Big Issue Group

• Any information you have shared about your current and past needs and future aspirations in relation to: housing, money and finances, digital access, education level, employment status and aspirations

• Records of your correspondence and engagement with us, including notes from conversations with you which may include any of the above information

• Records of correspondence with any third-party agencies on your behalf

• Photographic images of you for the purposes of identification

Special category data is more private personal information which is subject to extra legal protections. We may need to collect some or all of the following special category data:

• Your ethnicity

• Information about your health

• Your sexual orientation

In addition, we may collect information about criminal convictions or whether you are on release from prison on licence.

6. HOW WE COLLECT INFORMATION ABOUT YOU

We collect information about you in a number of ways, including but not limited to, when you:

• [Purchase our Big Issue magazine or equipment]

• Complete action plans and assessments with our staff face to face or on the phone

• Have conversations with our staff face to face or on the phone as you use the Service

• Complete any digital or paper forms or surveys while using the Service

• Communicate with us on social media. Correspond with us through email, SMS or other digital messaging services

Financial and company data on you and your organisation

We may also collect your personal data where we receive information about you from third parties, for example, housing agencies and referrals agencies. Third parties should only provide us with this information where you have given them permission to share your information.

We may also collect your personal data through publicly available sources e.g. social media.

When you call and speak to us, any personal or sensitive information may be used for training purposes, quality assurance, complaint investigations, and to make further improvements to the way we interact with you. These calls are not recorded.

7. HOW WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION SAFE

We keep your information in secure digital databases. Only authorised staff providing or managing the Service have access to these databases.

Where we have paper documents with your personal information this information will be transferred to the digital databases and the paper document will be securely destroyed. Where it cannot be transferred to the digital databases, we will keep the paper document in an individual file within a locked filing system.

If we use third party companies to collect or process personal data on our behalf we carry out checks on these companies before we work with them, and put a contract in place regarding how they manage the personal information they collect or have access to. At this time, the digital databases we use across the Big Issue Group include SalesForce, Zoho, Hubspot and InForm.

8. SHARING YOUR INFORMATION

In delivering the Service, Big Issue Group works with a network of local and national partners including housing associations, local authorities, legal advice services, health services, local businesses, colleges and other types of organisations. In order to help individuals we work with access these external services, the Big Issue Group can make referrals and liaise with these services on your behalf. In these cases, we will need to share your personal information with these external service providers. We will only do this with your consent and we will share the minimum information required for you to access any third-party service.

Big Issue Group works with third party, corporate partners who support our work. In some instances, we may share your information or story with these partners but only with your permission to do so.
We may share your data with third party service providers that provide services to us or on our behalf. We may do this to perform a contract we have entered into, where it is in our legitimate interests or with your consent. Examples of when we may share your data with service providers include sharing with:

• Internet and cloud hosting services providers, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS); and

• Software service providers such as Salesforce.

There are limited other circumstances in which we may share your information with external organisations, these include:

• where we believe there is a risk of significant harm to you or others and where it is not safe or possible to gain your consent to share your information first. In these instances, we may provide your information to a statutory third party such as the police, ambulance service or local authority to help keep you or others safe;

• if required by law, for example if we are under a duty to disclose your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights;

• if our legal structure or status changes, in which case personal information held by us about you will be disclosed to the new legal structure so that you can continue to receive the Service; and

• to our professional advisors and banks for the purpose of providing services to us, if we are required to disclose your identity for regulatory and legal purposes in our activities with them.

We do not sell or share personal details to third parties for the purposes of marketing.

9. INTERNATIONAL DATA TRANSFERS

Data we collect may be transferred to, stored and processed in outside of the United Kingdom. While other countries or territories may not have the same standards of data protection as those in your home country, we will continue to protect personal data that we transfer in line with this privacy notice.

Whenever we transfer your personal data out of the United Kingdom, we will only do so where it is compliant with the Data Protection laws and the means of transfer provides adequate safeguards in relation to your data, for example:

• by transferring your personal data to countries that have been found to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data;

• by implementing a specific approved data transfer agreement;

• where it is necessary for the conclusion or performance of a contract between us and a third party and the transfer is in your interests for the purposes of that contract; or

• where you have consented to the transfer.

10. RETENTION OF PERSONAL DATA

We keep your personal data for only as long as we need to. How long we need your personal data depends on what we are using it for, as set out in this privacy policy. For example, we may need to use it to answer your queries about a product or service and as a result may keep personal data while you are still using our product or services. We may also need to keep your personal data for accounting purposes, for example, where you have bought a magazine. If we no longer need your data, we will delete it or make it anonymous by removing all details that identify you. If we have asked for your consent to process your personal data and we have no other lawful grounds to continue with that processing, and you withdraw your consent, we will delete your personal data. However, when you unsubscribe from marketing communications, we will keep your email address to ensure that we do not send you any marketing in the future. 

11. YOUR RIGHTS

You have the following rights in relation to your personal information processed through the Service, although we may be entitled to refuse to comply with your request in certain circumstances and where we think that it is reasonable for us not to comply with your request, we will explain our reasons for this decision:

• The right to be informed about how your personal information is collected and used (be informed);

• the right to access the personal information (get access);

• the right to request the correction of inaccurate personal information (rectify or change);

• the right to request the erasure of your personal information in certain limited circumstances (erase or remove);

• the right to restrict processing of your personal information where certain requirements are met (restrict or stop processing);

• the right to object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances (object to processing or use);

• the right to request that elements of your data are transferred either to you or another service provider in certain circumstances (move, copy or transfer);

• the right to object to certain automated decision-making processes using your personal information (know if a decision was made by a computer rather than a person); and

Further information about these rights can be found on the Information Commissioner’s Office website here.

If you would like to exercise any of the rights specified above, please email dataprotection@thebigissue.com or write to the Data Protection Manager at Big Issue Group 3rd Floor, 113-115 Fonthill Road, London N4 3HH. We will usually deal with requests within one month.

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity. If your request is complicated or if you have made a large number of requests, it may take us longer. We will let you know if we need longer than one month to respond. You will not have to pay a fee to obtain a copy of your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive.

Please note that there may be some circumstances where you ask to erase or restrict the processing of your personal information and we may be legally entitled to retain your personal information or continue to process it. We will always inform you if this is the case.

12. WITHDRAWING CONSENT

Where the legal basis for processing your personal information is your consent, you have the right to withdraw this consent at any time.  For example, you may wish to withdraw consent for us to share your personal information with third party services that are also supporting you.  All requests to withdraw consent can be done at any time by contacting Big Issue Group in person, by phone, by post, or online by email to dataprotection@bigissue.com. With respect to marketing emails you can withdraw your consent by clicking on the “unsubscribe” link on our emails.

13. KEEPING YOUR INFORMATION UP TO DATE

If your personal details change, please help us to keep your information up to date by notifying Big Issue Group in person, by phone, by post, and online by email to dataprotection@bigissue.com.

14. CONTACT US

If you have any queries or concerns in relation to how we use your personal information or if you want to exercise any of your rights above, please contact the Data Protection Manager at Big Issue Group, 3rd Floor, 113-115 Fonthill Road, London N4 3HH. Or, email dataprotection@bigissue.com.

Complaints will be dealt with by the Data Protection Team, and will be responded to within 30 days.

You can also lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (the UK data protection regulator):

• using the online Contact Us service
• by calling 0303 123 1113
• by writing to the Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

If you have a question about anything else, please see our Contact us page.

15. CHANGE TO THIS NOTICE

The terms of our privacy notice may be amended from time to time. Any updates to the privacy notice will be published on our website. You should always check that you are referring to the latest version if you have previously downloaded hard copies of this privacy notice. If required by law, we will get your permission or give you the opportunity to opt out of any new uses of your data.

The most recent changes to this privacy notice were made on:

• August 2025
• November 2023

A list of all previous changes is available upon request.