The Big Issue in the North, based in Manchester, is part of the Big Life Group – a range of social businesses whose main aim is to help people, usually those facing homelessness - change their lives for the better. It is an organisation where diversity and working in partnership with others are key strengths.  

The Big Life Group has a mission to change the world!  They aim to bring about social justice for the most excluded in society – to create a new way of working and a new way of living.  A world where everyone has the opportunity to improve themselves and develop their potential. Where people’s needs are met, and their talents and assets utilised. Not a world where the world is divided into the needy and the sorted.

The businesses of the Big Life Group aim to help to create wealth and opportunities for people who are overlooked by mainstream employers. Working creates people’s sense of self-worth. It gives them the chance to interact with different  people in new situations and through extra support available, to overcome other problems in their lives.