Millions in UK are being left behind as world moves online, say peers | Social exclusion

The government is failing millions of digitally excluded citizens who do not have the means, money or ability to go online, a House of Lords committee has said.

Ministers do not have a credible strategy to tackle digital exclusion and are allowing “millions of citizens to fall behind”, according to a report by the Lords communications and digital committee.

Statistics flagged by the report include that 1.7m UK households have no broadband or mobile internet access at home; up to 1 million people have cut off their broadband access due to the cost of living crisis and that 2.4 million people cannot complete a single basic task to get online such as opening an internet browser, connecting to a wifi network, updating a password or using a mouse.

“Everything from housing and healthcare resources to banking and benefit systems is shifting online at an unprecedented rate. By failing to take decisive action, the government is allowing millions of citizens to fall behind,” the committee said.

The report says key factors in digital exclusion are: age, with more than half of adults without basic digital skills being aged over 75, and one in five children not having access to a device for home study at the start of the pandemic; socioeconomic status, with 2.4m households from the lowest-ranked backgrounds not using the internet at home; disability, with a “disproportionately large number” of people with physical or mental disabilities accounting for non-internet user numbers; and regional differences, with London having the lowest proportion of non-internet users at 7%, compared with Northern Ireland on 14% (the highest and north-east England on 12%.

“Every day, people are unable to access the internet because they do not have the connection, device or skills to get online,” the report says. “This digital divide is undermining efforts to improve UK productivity, economic growth and socioeconomic inclusion. Cost of living challenges are exacerbating the problem for the most financially vulnerable.”

The report cites research estimating that 5 million workers will be “acutely underskilled” in basic digital skills, such as using communication tools like Microsoft Teams, by 2030. Members of the Lords committee include Dido Harding, a former chief executive of the broadband provider TalkTalk, and Tony Hall, former director general of the BBC.

In 2014 the government published a digital inclusion strategy that outlined a series of actions to help people learn how to use government digital services and improve access for small businesses, with the aim that by 2020 “everyone who can be digitally capable, will be”.

However, the Lords report says government working groups dedicated to digital inclusion have been disbanded, and the committee has no confidence that the government is interested in driving change. “Senior political leadership to drive joined-up concerted action is sorely needed,” it says.

The report says the government needs a new digital inclusion strategy overseen by a cross-government, and it should comprise five key policies: cutting VAT on social tariffs offered by internet providers; teaching people basic digital skills in schools, businesses and community organisations; opening “digital inclusion hubs” in locations such as libraries; encouraging alternative broadband networks in order to connect poorly served communities; and ensuring artificial intelligence-driven decision-making in public services does not marginalise digitally excluded groups.

A government spokesperson said: “We are committed to ensuring that no one is left behind in the digital age. Steps we are taking include putting essential digital skills on an equal footing in the adult education system alongside English and maths.

“To boost access, we have worked closely with Ofcom and the industry to bring a range of social broadband and mobile tariffs, available across 99% of the UK and starting from as low as £10 per month, and our £5bn Project Gigabit has already resulted in 76% of the UK being covered by gigabit broadband, up from just 6% at the start of 2019.”