Working together to combat digital exclusion

From paying council tax and bills digitally to taking part in online consultations, being online is vital for residents. Digital skills are also vital for people to access employment and education opportunities.

Local government is increasingly turning to the charity sector to target and offer training to the most digitally excluded communities. The third sector’s frontline, local knowledge is proving invaluable to these efforts.

This is particularly true at a regional level, where combined authorities, made up of several neighbouring councils, are investing heavily in tacking digital exclusion.

Here we examine how these charity and council partnerships are evolving to support the digital skills of local people.

Rising importance of combined authorities

Over the last decade there has been a drive to devolve power to the English regions through the creation of combined authorities, where councils set up formal regional collaborations.

The first of these was set up in 2011 in Greater Manchester and since then these ‘super councils’ have collaborated on issues from transport to health and social care to tackling digital inclusion.

There are also now combined authorities in: Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Merseyside, North of Tyne, South Yorkshire, Tees Valley, West Midlands, West of England, West Yorkshire, and the North East.

In 2021, digital inclusion charity Good Things Foundation called on combined authorities to tap into the strong local connections charities have to help boost digital inclusion.

It urged local politicians to understand the challenge of tackling digital exclusion, link up with local partners – including charities – and to share good practice.

Securing investment, coordinating region-wide digital inclusion as well as championing the use of digitally locally, and with national policymakers, are also among the Good Foundation’s recommendations.

This call is clearly being listened to, with evidence already emerging of the vital role charities are playing to help combined authorities promote digital inclusion.

‘Digital boot camps’

Among regional government structures to harness the knowledge of charities to tackle digital inclusion is the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA).

This is important because, in this region, 30.5% of people are described as limited digital users.

In 2021, the WMCA announced that it will invest £21m in measures to combat digital exclusion in the region over the next three years.

The focus is on helping improve the digital skills of 4,000 people in the region through ‘digital boot camps’ providing by charities and the other organisations.

Among charities involved in the WMCA ‘digital boot camps’ initiative are Code your Future and Resume Foundation.

These bootcamps will cover training in areas such as data analytics, web development, coding, cloud computing, digital marketing, and cybersecurity.

“We know that training in the skills of the future that employers want and need is a crucial way to help people bounce back into employment quickly, and technology is an area of huge employment possibilities that we must help people get the right skills in,” said West Midlands mayor Andy Street.

“The sector offers new, exciting, and future-proof jobs, and digital boot camps are a great way of helping local people get involved.”

Extent of the digital exclusion challenge

In terms of limited digital use, the worst impacted region is the North East, where 38% of people only have basic skills.

As with the West Midlands, the proportion is above 30% in East Midlands and East of England.

Meanwhile, in London, a fifth of the population are limited digital users, while in the South East, Yorkshire and Humberside, and the South West more than a quarter of people are categorised as being limited in their use of digital.

Latest figures from communication regulator Ofcom at least 1.5 million UK households lack internet access and 14.9 million people have low levels of digital engagement.

Around 10 million people lack even the most basic digital skills.

According to the Good Things Foundation more than two thirds of people would improve their digital skills “if they knew there was support available to help them if they needed it”.

Fears around privacy and security are an issue for 1.3 million of those who are digitally excluded. More than a third (37%) don’t have the right equipment.  

Another barrier is cost, according to the Foundation’s Digital Nation 2021 report. This revealed that two million households are struggling to afford internet access and 36% of people think being online is too expensive.

In addition, digital excluded people are four times more likely to come from low-income households, eight times more likely to be aged over 65. It is estimated that more than one in four (42%) of over 75-year-olds are digitally excluded.

Those who are digitally excluded are one and a half times more likely to be from BAME groups.