Digital inclusion remains an unfulfilled objective, with certain groups at particular risk of being left behind. With a general election expected this year, we review the areas the next Government should target in order to help close the digital divide.
The House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee has raised concerns about the level of digital exclusion in the UK, with the most recent national strategy published a decade ago. There is currently no indication that an updated plan will materialise any time soon – and is unlikely to without external pressure.
A refreshed national strategy should target accessibility, affordability, digital skills and trust, reflecting four major barriers to digital inclusion. Similar challenges have often been identified as priorities by local councils, which have developed action plans to support communities in the absence of guidance from central government.
Building on industry’s ongoing network investment, collaboration between local and national governments could help meet the accessibility needs of specific groups. Local-level engagement and governance could support the extension of coverage into rural areas, while directly involving those demographics disproportionately affected by digital exclusion.
Operators continue to do their bit to support customers, including providing (and bearing the cost of) social tariffs. These plans, even if VAT-free, do not offer a silver bullet, resulting in increasing calls for the Government to bear greater responsibility and to consider further public funding to overcome affordability barriers.
Public-private partnerships, such as those in Europe, could provide a platform for developing digital skills through education and community-based training. Regulatory interventions like in Singapore could also be instructive in creating stronger protections against scams, helping users feel confident navigating online services safely.
The House of Lords has rung alarm bells about the UK’s outdated plan for tackling digital exclusion
Advances in technology and connectivity have revolutionised the way we learn, work and communicate; however, the opportunities of digitisation are still not accessible to everyone (around 1.7m people remain unconnected). Internet access is no longer a luxury, with 90% of jobs in the UK being advertised solely online. Certain demographics can be acutely affected by digital exclusion, with barriers often driven by geographic, socioeconomic or age-related factors. There are significant potential upsides to closing the divide, with a digitally inclusive UK projected to increase employment and earnings levels, as well raise tax revenue. Yet for all to experience the full benefits of the connected world, addressing the issue of digital exclusion requires greater political attention and action.
As the UK Government seeks to position itself as a leader in the development and regulation of frontier technology (such as AI), 2.4m of the population are unable to complete a single basic task online. On 29 June 2023, the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee published its report on digital exclusion and the cost of living, sounding concerns about a widening digital divide. The report also highlighted that the last UK-level digital inclusion strategy was published a decade ago in 2014. While the Government’s response to that report acknowledged the committee’s concerns, it stated that digital inclusion is not “a stand alone issue” and as such it is considered across the broader policy landscape. The committee also urged the Government to commit to publishing a refreshed digital inclusion strategy within six months (i.e. by March 2024); however, there is currently no indication that this will materialise soon. This has cast doubts as to whether a new plan for boosting digital inclusion will be seen without external pressure.
Accessibility, affordability, digital skills and trust should be central to a revised national strategy
In the absence of an updated national digital inclusion strategy, some UK municipalities – e.g. Greater Manchester, Norfolk, Oxfordshire and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets – have developed their own local plans of action. These strategies include exploring how partnerships can improve access to telecoms services and devices, as well as supporting communities with digital and safeguarding training that can help develop digital skills and build confidence in how to stay safe online. With a general election now on the horizon, there is an opportunity to reconsider how best to bridge the digital divide nationally, taking into account the recommendations of the Communications and Digital Committee, as well as potentially leveraging the work undertaken and priorities identified by local authorities.
The 2014 strategy included motivation (i.e. knowing the reasons why using the internet is a good thing) as one of its core focus areas. This is still a relevant issue for some groups, but arguably now less critical overall as the use of devices has become even more ingrained across society, and a new digitally-native generation has emerged. We have identified four factors that continue to contribute to digital exclusion in the UK – and indeed across other countries – that should be priorities for a revamped, forward-looking strategy of the next Government (see Table 1).
Local engagement and governance would provide a dynamic approach to meeting local accessibility needs
Access to connectivity is a foundational principle of digital inclusion, but it is an issue that disproportionately impacts certain demographics, including those living in rural or remote locations, as well as pockets of urban areas. Rightfully, the UK's current digital inclusion strategy recognised the access challenge and strong progress has been made to extend coverage of telecoms infrastructure, with public initiatives set in motion and operators’ continued investment in network upgrades and deployments.
For example, the Shared Rural Network, a collaborative project between mobile operators and the Government, will bring 4G to 95% of the UK by the end of 2025 and Project Gigabit aims to connect 85% of hard-to-reach and rural communities to gigabit-capable broadband by that same deadline. While Building Digital UK (BDUK, which manages delivery of the programme) notes that gigabit access has now reached 79% of UK premises, 56% of those in rural areas are still uncovered and some regions have yet to receive funding. This is in stark contrast to the 26% in urban areas without gigabit coverage.
Accessibility should therefore remain a key priority for a new digital inclusion strategy, with a particular focus on the underserved. In the US, the FCC has proposed that operators submit annual reports on the communities served by major commercial broadband projects. This proposal aims to improve transparency and promote infrastructure development in underserved regions to prevent “digital discrimination”. In France, the Government’s digital inclusion strategy, France Numérique Ensemble, has engaged local actors to implement national strategic priorities on a local scale. Taking inspiration from the FCC’s proposal, a new UK digital inclusion strategy could enhance the reporting of Project Gigabit to track closely how connectivity goals are being reached across different communities. By onboarding the French use of stakeholder partnerships, the UK could implement indicator tracking through local governance that would help identify and then meet local connectivity needs. These measures together would help create an effective and dynamic approach to network deployments and would particularly strengthen the voice of areas disproportionately affected.
The Government should consider how it might play a more active role in supporting financially vulnerable groups
Affordability – both of telecoms services and of devices – is another primary factor that influences digital exclusion. While prices in the UK have generally fallen over time, Ofcom reports that 8.5m (30%) households face difficulty affording at least one communications service. Operators already have a selection of measures in place to support financially vulnerable consumers, including voluntarily providing social tariffs to eligible groups. They also contribute to charitable efforts, such as Good Things Foundation, to improve the availability of data and devices for the unconnected.
Since cost of living pressures began to mount on many UK households, there has been a major focus on the role of social tariffs in helping to mitigate affordability issues. However, with operators bearing the cost of this support alone, many stakeholders have urged the Government to take a more active role. For instance, the House of Lords committee suggested removing VAT from social tariffs (something that is supported by consumer groups) and encouraged collaboration with the private sector to scale up internet vouchers. While savings from the former would likely be passed onto consumers, it is unlikely to deliver a considerable welfare gain for those on the very lowest incomes. It also represents a technical challenge for operators that may not have a material impact on the adoption of social tariffs. In any case, both proposals were quickly dismissed by the Government, which has only increased frustrations, as well as calls for consideration of how public funding could be used to support households under financial strain.
As part of a modern digital inclusion strategy, affordability must remain top of mind. An important step to better understand the landscape of affordability issues would mean going beyond monitoring social tariff take-up and considering other metrics, such as spending below a threshold on broadband for all households. Evidence from other countries also indicates that operators do not have to bear the financial burden alone. In the US, the FCC provides subsidies to low income customers via its Lifeline Programme, while the US Government’s Affordability Connectivity Programme (ACP) provides a benefit towards internet services and offers a one-off subsidy for electronic devices. While encouraging better promotion of social tariffs would undoubtedly be beneficial, more granular inclusion metrics could enable more informed and targeted measures to be put in place. Through funding and public-private initiatives, the Government could shoulder more of the financial burden while directing resources to underserved communities.
Public-private partnerships and community-based initiatives could provide a foundation for bolstering the UK’s digital skills
The area in which the UK is at particular risk of falling behind is digital skills, with their development being the least prominent amongst existing digital inclusion measures. It is not only essential services such as banking and healthcare that are increasingly moving online, but work-related activities are also being progressively digitised. While a basic standard of digital literacy is now a necessity, skills beyond this level are becoming vital for individuals, businesses and the country as a whole. The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) estimates that every Pound invested into digital skills training in the UK would boost the economy by £9.48.
Many current digital skills initiatives are being led by the private and third sectors. Across the UK, Good Things Foundation has set up digital inclusion hubs that offer free services to get people online. Additional initiatives from operators include programmes to educate and upskill children, families and businesses, while retail stores offer in store training on devices to help customers get up and running. The UK Government has made an effort to improve the skills of underrepresented communities with the Essential Digital Skills qualification scheme.
These measures provide a foundation on which the UK can build, although initiatives from other countries may be instructive. France’s digital inclusion strategy is comprehensive for building digital skills, making advisors available across the country to organise workshops and to support citizens to use digital tools in their daily lives. In the Netherlands, the identification of skill shortage in manufacturing led to a public-private partnership called Smart Makers Academy to enhance the digital proficiency of those within the sector. An example of a wider use of public-private partnerships is the EU’s Digital Skills and Jobs Platform, which makes use of various stakeholders curating training and resources to improve digital skills across abilities. Operators are supporting these partnerships, with Telefónica developing a Digital Inclusion Compass to promote public-private policies and initiatives targeted at digital inclusion.
The UK digital inclusion strategy should look to tackle skills shortages, with targeted efforts for key groups, including young people and the unemployed. For example, digital inclusion programmes (as seen in France) could be run in communal areas, such as libraries and schools, to ensure that everyone has access to basic digital skills training. Appreciating the cross-cutting nature of the issue, collaboration across government departments would be key to a streamlined effort to drive advanced skills and capabilities across the population. Integration of public-private partnerships across impacted industries would support the economy on a wider basis, further enhancing the talent within the UK workforce. Still, establishing a clear ministerial lead would help reduce duplication of measures while also providing accountability. Meanwhile, overarching national guidance would provide a blueprint for local authorities to align and progress their own strategies.
Amid growing cyberthreats, education and safeguards can help build trust and confidence in the digital world
The current strategy recognises the issue of trust in driving digital inclusion and how individuals may have concerns of crime when using the internet. This challenge has only grown over the decade due to rising disinformation, data breaches and online scams, and should be prioritised within a new digital inclusion strategy to ensure engagement of individuals (particularly vulnerable ones) with digital services and technologies. The UK, like many other countries, has implemented strict data protection rules (the GDPR) and it has recently passed the Online Safety Act, which aims to create a safer digital environment – especially for children. In a bid to protect consumers from fraud, the UK Home Office has launched a ‘Stop! Think Fraud’ campaign offering support and advice for those that suspect or have been a victim of fraud. Meanwhile, operators such as Virgin Media O2 have provided AI powered anti-spam tools, blocking spam texts and warning consumers of spam calls.
Building on this foundation, further steps can be taken to raise user awareness and build trust and confidence to go online. The Singapore Smart Nation strategy included development of ‘ScamShield’, an anti-scam app developed by the Police Force and the National Crime Prevention Council. This app warns users of scam texts and automatically blocks scam calls. In the Netherlands, VodafoneZiggo has put together an online course, which supports children in secondary education that are more likely to be susceptible to online dangers than their peers. The course navigates the themes of online safety such as the protection of personal data, recognising online crime, securing accounts and devices, as well as fake news, sexting and cyberbullying.
A new UK strategy could look to implement and support similar campaigns and educational content within the school curriculum. These initiatives would build parental confidence that their children are able to navigate the internet safely. To address online fraud, the UK could look to develop products for consumers, similar to Singapore's ScamShield. With scams affecting multiple industries, the UK Government should seek to convene and engage with the tech, telecoms and finance sectors to combat the problem. Greater sharing of experiences, knowledge and possibly data would help better tackle the issue at source. Such measures would boost confidence in how individuals navigate the internet, thereby tackling the growing mistrust that has impacted the digital space.
