Free online resource launches to tackle digital exclusion

The government has teamed up with charities and academics to launch a free online toolkit to improve digital skills during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Skills Toolkit has been launched, as many people are having to rapidly boost their understanding of technology as they work from home and support their children’s home schooling.

Understanding cyber security is another aspect of the toolkit.

The toolkit should also be useful to charities working to ensure isolated and socially excluded communities can better understand digital. More than a quarter (28 per cent) of charities said their audiences are not accessing social media, according to a survey by Charity Comms and Media Trust on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The toolkit features resources developed by digital inclusion charity The Good Things Foundation. This includes Learn My Way, which offers an introduction to building essential digital skills, including accessing health services and banking online.

Another Foundation resource included is Make It Click, which offers support in developing digital skills further, such as learning new apps and using Zoom.

Good Things Foundation Chief Executive Helen Milner said: “With 11.9 million people in the UK still without the essential digital skills for life and work, from adding an email attachment to two-step security verification, we’re delighted to be helping the nation learn and gain confidence.”