What does digital exclusion mean for the charity sector?

With daily advances in innovation, digital tech has become embedded in daily life, from social media to banking, accessing health information and much more. As access to it can be uneven, what does digital exclusion mean for the charity sector?

Digital excluded people have limited or no access to digital tech and the internet, leading to lower skills and confidence. Being digitally excluded can lead to social exclusion and impact on social and economic problems. The ONS annual survey of internet users (2019) says that 9% of UK adults have either never accessed the internet, or over 3 months ago, affecting 4.8 million people. Digitally excluded people can include older people and people with lower educational achievements.

It goes beyond simply going online, however. 22% of UK adults, around 11.9m people, do not have the Essential Digital Skills required for everyday tasks, according to the 2019 Lloyds Consumer Digital Index.

The effect of the pandemic

Lockdown has made the situation starker. In the UK, lockdown has left 1.9 million homes without the internet and tens of millions of families more dependent on pay-as-you-go tariffs to get online healthcare, education and benefits and make phone calls. The digital exclusion of some of the UK’s most vulnerable families and communities is leading to harmful outcomes.

Helen Milner, the chief executive of Good Things Foundation, a charity combating digital exclusion, says “Pay-as-you-go customers without the means to buy data are finding themselves shut in their homes, facing social isolation with no means of communicating with the outside world.” In London, one woman revealed she was spending almost half of her weekly household budget on credit for her teenage daughters to access online homeschooling, her family eats only twice a day to balance living costs.

The problem affects elderly people, refugees and families living in poverty the worst as they cannot afford internet at home or fixed-term contracts. Jane Caldwell, the chief executive of Age UK East London says “We have elderly people who can’t get on council shielding lists because you have to register online. Others have ended up critically ill in hospital who have to beg to use a healthcare workers device just to make contact with their family”.

Bringing digital to everyone

Digital inclusion extends beyond broadband. It is important to empower people to have the fundamental skills needed to go online regularly and enthusiastically make it part of their lives.

The government has published The Skills Toolkit in collaboration with charities and academics to improve digital skills during this pandemic. It is designed to help people improve their tech skills as they adjust to working from home and helping children study at home, along with lifestyle essentials such as getting to online health resources and online banking. It also covers how to use new apps and Zoom.

Oliver Dowden, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said “Technology is going to play a hugely important role in our economic recovery and this new platform will help ensure everyone is able to improve their digital skills and take advantage of the opportunities ahead.”