Good morning. It’s starting to feel very Christmassy at The Big Issue. 

We’re in the throes of our Christmas magazines and vendors are out on the streets selling our biggest and most exciting issues of the year. If you can spare some change to support your local seller, please do. This map should help you find a Big Issue near you.

Christmas can be a challenging time for many people, and it’s especially difficult when you are facing homelessness and poverty. In this week’s newsletter, I meet Patricia – a single mother who was evicted from her family home and faced Christmas in temporary housing. 

But there are incredible organisations and individuals out there who are making a difference to families who are struggling. 

Today is Save the Children’s Christmas Jumper Day, a chance to put on your most festive gear and donate to a good cause. Later in this newsletter, I chat to a Great British Bake Off star about why it's so important to get involved this year.

And read to the end for everything you need to know about your benefit payments this Christmas…

If you have a story to share, we want to listen. Get in touch at isabella.mcrae@bigissue.com or share your story here.

Patricia's story: 'Christmas was really not nice'

Patricia Leatham’s son pretends the years they were homeless never happened. He sometimes tells people he is 12, even though he is actually 13, because he lost part of his childhood. 

“My son talks as if for those two to three years he wasn’t on the planet,” Leatham says now. “If I try to talk about it, he says he wasn’t there. He says he was lost.”

Her boy was being left behind while the children around him grew into teenagers – and it was especially difficult at times like Christmas. Other children unwrapped stacks of presents under their tree, while Leatham could barely afford to keep them fed. 

“Christmas was really not nice,” the 48-year-old says. “I tried to make it as best I could but it was just awful. As a parent, you do try. I put up a little tree, but he couldn’t even have friends over because we didn’t want them to see where we lived.”

And she is far from alone. Laurence Guinness at the Childhood Trust says many children living in poverty "dread" Christmas.

Read Patricia’s story – and about the other children facing homelessness this Christmas – here. 

In case you missed it

Home Office to halt asylum evictions amid soaring refugee homelessness crisis. Evictions will be paused over Christmas, amid widespread warnings that thousands of refugees will become homeless. Read the story.

All the ways the government’s childcare plans will help richer parents and hurt the poor. The government has big plans to expand the 30 hours free childcare scheme – but experts worry it is setting the poorest children up to fail. Here’s that explained.

Homeless man asks to be sent to jail for a bed and a meal. It happens more often than you’d think. Get the story.

UK’s economic stagnation has left households £4,300 poorer. But there's a plan to fix it. Read the story.

‘Shameful’ housing crisis leaves almost 140,000 children living in temporary accommodation. Overall, the number of households living in temporary accommodation has hit a new record high. Read about it.

Family with two young children faces being split up by UK plan to cut legal migration. If the mother lost her job, they could be separated. Here's more on that.

Food bank volunteers at breaking point as demand rises. Charlotte White, at Earlsfield Foodbank, explains the situation they are seeing in the current crisis. Get the latest.

Museum of Austerity: The mixed reality exhibition giving a voice to victims of benefit cuts. The new installation lays bare the consequences when state safety nets fail. Here’s the story.

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This Bake Off star is spreading Christmas cheer to help vulnerable children

Sandro Farmhouse looks like a living Christmas tree decked out in layers of tinsel, a knitted Rudolph jumper covered in pom poms and an upside down elf on his head. The Great British Bake Off star practically screams it’s the most wonderful time of the year. 

And it is all for a brilliant cause. He is posing for Save the Children’s Christmas Jumper Day (today!), encouraging others to put on their most festive gear and donate to help the most vulnerable children across the country.

I spoke to Sandro about grief at Christmas, fleeing war when he was very young, baking as therapy and his plans to help people who are feeling lonely over the festive period. Read the story and pop on your favourite Christmas jumper today and donate to Save the Children.

Saving those coins

There are slightly different dates for some people receiving benefits payments over the Christmas period, and some people might be eligible for some extra financial support to get them through the winter months. That includes a Christmas bonus paid this week to some benefits claimants (although it’s not much at just £10), a winter fuel payment and a warm home discount. We’ve rounded it all up here.