UK National Delivery Plan 2023
Mission One
Increase awareness among government, politicians, industry, and the public about the need for strategic and sustainable action to end digital poverty.
What already exists
The UK has a thriving network of individuals and organisations dedicated to promoting digital inclusion. As such, there is a large advocacy coalition that can promote strategic and sustainable action to end digital poverty and build on other awareness-raising campaigns such as Get Online Week and Safer Internet Day.
However, efforts to raise awareness must also extend to ensuring greater levels of industry leadership across this agenda. While many employers already support digital inclusion and digital poverty initiatives, more can be done to expand their involvement.
In addition to advocacy and awareness-raising efforts, it is crucial to build on existing work that demonstrates the economic and investment case for digital inclusion.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought digital poverty into the national consciousness, yet the inequalities that the pandemic so brutally exposed have not receded; if anything, the need for action has become more urgent.
The pandemic prompted a concerted effort to address digital poverty. However, the initial momentum, often driven by goodwill and altruism, gradually dissipated over time, reducing the energy and resources devoted to this agenda. Now, within the context of the cost-of-living crisis, the need for action remains just as important, but neither industry nor the government has responded with the urgency needed to meet the scale of the challenge. We need action immediately, but solutions must be sustainable over the longer term.
This mission will make the case across all sectors of society about why action on digital poverty is needed more than ever.
Actions for 2023/24 Phase 1
1.1 Set up NDP committee.
1.2 Develop a strategy for targeted advocacy to raise awareness about digital poverty in the run-up to the next general election.
1.3 Produce a charter for businesses to commit to sustainable action to end digital poverty.
1.4 Businesses to sign the charter by May 2024
1.5 Establish an “End digital poverty” day.
1.6 Initiate work to build the economic investment case for an integrated programme for sustainable digital inclusion.
Actions by 2030 Phase 2-4
1.7 Deliver a full business/investment case for digital inclusion.
1.8 Improve signposting for employers to resources on embedding digital inclusion across the workforce.
1.9 Advocate for a new UK-wide digital inclusion strategy.
1.10 Advocate for ministerial-level responsibility for digital inclusion.
1.11 Government, industry and third sector to develop a model for an integrated programme.
1.12 National digital inclusion funding settlement to support stakeholders to increase capacity.
1.13 Ensure digital inclusion is embedded in the UK government’s public procurement policies and practices.
Theory of Change
Resources
- UK Digital Poverty Evidence Review
- National Delivery Plan
- National Delivery Committee
- Digital inclusion ecosystem
- Stakeholder engagement and support
Raising awareness and a new national strategy
A key focus of this plan will be to unify and strengthen the coalition advocating for an end to digital poverty. More must be done to highlight the enabling role that digital inclusion will play in delivering on a range of strategic policy priorities, including generating inclusive and sustainable economic growth, increasing the efficiency and experience of essential public services and providing education opportunities. Equally, politicians must take a more significant role in driving this agenda forward. This is why the DPA, alongside our members and stakeholders, will develop a campaign focused on action against digital poverty in the run-up to the next general election. To achieve this, we must unite behind a shared vision for sustainable change and work to enhance the visibility of the issue in both media and political discourse. To do so, we intend to work with all-party parliamentary groups such as the APPG for Digital Skills, PICTFOR and the APPG on Data Poverty as well as digital inclusion networks such as the BCS Digital Divide subgroup, the National Digital Inclusion Network led by Good Things Foundation, and the Digital Champions Network.
Over the longer term, there is also a clear need for a new UK-wide digital inclusion strategy. We invite individuals and organisations involved in digital inclusion to join us in calling for urgent action on this. Although the UK has a Digital Strategy, published in 202114, the commitments around digital inclusion are limited to equipping people with essential digital skills and mitigating online harms through the Online Safety Bill. These are welcome measures but not sufficient to meet the scale of the challenge in relation to digital poverty.
A well-defined digital inclusion strategy would offer enhanced clarity on the responsibilities for digital inclusion both within and across the government. It can set out a sustainable model for action and address the five determinants of digital poverty. Ideally, the strategy would be owned by the Cabinet Office. However, irrespective of government ownership, a new strategy must set out a clearly defined policy direction with clear and robust mechanisms to measure and report progress. The UK government last released a digital inclusion strategy in 2014, but unfortunately, it did not provide a sustainable framework for action. Securing political buy-in for digital inclusion is vital to drive the agenda forward, and we believe that a refreshed strategy could provide the necessary framework to enable this. A new strategy would also need to be backed up by new funding across England and the home nations to build local community capacity to scale up digital inclusion support.
It is also essential to consider how a new UK-wide strategy would interface with existing strategies to tackle digital inclusion. There are numerous successful initiatives across the UK, including those developed by devolved administrations, that will need to be considered alongside a new UK-wide strategy. This may include, for example, reviewing how Shared Prosperity Funding can be aligned to strategic priorities at a regional and home nations level with respect to digital inclusion. A new strategy must complement existing local, regional and national approaches while providing a framework to increase support and capability to areas of the UK without well-developed digital inclusion ecosystems. By doing so, the strategy can ensure that all individuals and communities have access to digital skills, technologies, and services, regardless of their location or background.
The role of employers
In addition to a greater role for the UK Government, there is also a significant role for businesses to work with customers and their employees to end digital poverty. Many organisations are doing great work to support people facing digital poverty. Virgin Media O2 partnered with Good Things Foundation to launch the National Data Bank by providing 61 million GB of free data.15 Additionally, TalkTalk, in collaboration with the DWP, launched a programme to provide free broadband to job seekers for six months.16
These projects are welcome and to be encouraged, but the scale of the challenge necessitates action that goes beyond short-term initiatives. What is required is a commitment from businesses to tackle digital poverty in a way that is sustainable, connected and collaborative.
To address this, the DPA will produce a charter for businesses to commit to sustainable action to end digital poverty. An initial scoping exercise will be conducted to assess the parameters for the charter, but it may include commitments for employers to donate and refurbish devices, upskill their workforce in digital skills and increase the number of digital champions within their organisation. We are keen for employer representative bodies such as BCS, Tech UK, British Chambers of Commerce, and the Federation of Small Business to work with us to increase awareness amongst all employers, including large technology companies.
Initially, we anticipate that DPA members will help to develop and commit to the charter before this is disseminated to a wider range of employers. The commitment charter will ensure that employer partners and stakeholders are aligned to a common vision for action. This can help to increase the likelihood of achieving the desired outcomes and can serve as a powerful tool for driving change and progress. In addition, it is important to consider how we can expand the reach of existing information and resources that assist employers in promoting digital inclusion throughout their workforce and in their interactions with customers and suppliers.
Developing an integrated programme for digital inclusion
To effectively address digital exclusion, building a strong advocacy coalition beyond government and industry is crucial. The public and civil society must also be engaged, particularly individuals who are passionate about taking action to tackle digital poverty. This requires raising awareness among those who may be hesitant to use digital technologies. While we recognise that some people may never be persuaded to get online, it is essential that those who are willing to engage are aware of the support that is available to them.
In the short term, DPA members will collaborate to establish an “End Digital Poverty Day”. Designating a day to focus on the issue can help raise awareness and encourage discussion, education, and action. In addition, this initiative will serve as a focal point for increasing public and cross-sector awareness about the issue of digital poverty.
Over the longer term, there is a growing recognition that digital inclusion needs to accommodate a shifting and increasingly complex digital landscape by supporting people throughout their entire lives and meeting them where they are in that journey – in school, on the job, through the health and care system and more.3 Life circumstances and social context are important contributors to digital poverty, so this requires a focus on the offline, social dynamics of disadvantage as well as technical and technological solutions.
Several key drivers are coalescing to create the impetus for change. These include economic uncertainty, the long-term viability of the existing model for public sector broadcasters, the pressures on the NHS with increased demand and expectations for healthcare, the upcoming PSTN phone network switch-off, the transition of in-person services to online and advances in technology, including the development of the metaverse and machine learning.
Several key drivers are coalescing to create the impetus for change. These include economic uncertainty, the long-term viability of the existing model for public sector broadcasters, the pressures on the NHS with increased demand and expectations for healthcare, the upcoming PSTN phone network switch-off, the transition of in-person services to online and advances in technology, including the development of the metaverse and machine learning.
These drivers underscore the need for an integrated programme across government, industry, and the third sector to ensure no one is left behind. This moment presents a unique opportunity for a joined-up and coordinated approach that supports people, no matter where they are in their digital journey. The digital TV switchover is the nearest analogy for what an integrated programme might look like. For most people, the switchover took the form of an awareness campaign, but for some people, a more intensive form of support was required. The programme of support will be delivered in collaboration with industry and civil society, and will need to be provided on an ongoing basis. It may involve, for example, a regular schedule of visits for help with technology from a locally trusted person. The integrated programme will also support the industry to ensure that it can offer commercial services in a digitally inclusive way.
Within Government, a comprehensive and coordinated programme is also needed to ensure that inclusion is at the centre of digital transformation initiatives across all levels of government. This would involve building on existing programmes, such as the development of a single sign-on for government services, but also breaking down silos, enabling data sharing across departments and building a genuinely cross-government approach to digital inclusion. By developing a well-coordinated and integrated program for digital inclusion across government and public sector services, we can ensure that everyone has equal access to the opportunities provided by an increasingly digitised world. As part of these efforts, additional areas should be explored to embed digital inclusion across central government. This could include recognising the social value of digital inclusion by deepening its integration into public sector procurement.
To help develop an integrated programme, it will be vital that it is backed up by sufficient funding. This is why the DPA and our members will develop an investment case for ending digital poverty. The investment case will seek to quantify the cost-benefit of different policy interventions, estimates of savings to government departments of having more citizens digitally included, estimates of the savings made by commercial service providers (such as banks) due to channel shift, the economic benefits to individuals by moving from exclusion to inclusion and the overall cost to the UK economy of keeping the status quo in relation to existing levels of digital poverty. In addition, this research would aim to build on previous work to quantify the social return on investment from digital inclusion.17 By understanding both the economic and social benefits of digital inclusion, policymakers and stakeholders can be better informed about the broad range of positive externalities generated by investments in digital inclusion. The DPA has started initial work to estimate the cost of digital poverty to society and the effectiveness of different policy options.
In terms of a mechanism to fund the programme, there are two potential options that require further debate and analysis. The first is to develop a mechanism to ensure that when commercial service providers benefit from channel shift by going predominately or exclusively online, and consequently lowering transaction costs, a portion of those savings are reinvested in digital inclusion. There is no doubt that many service providers, such as banks, do this already, but there are opportunities to scale this support further. The second option is for major online-only content providers to contribute to the costs of digital inclusion based on their disproportionality high use of network bandwidth. A similar proposal is currently being consulted on within the European Union18 to explore whether major content providers should fund broadband infrastructure upgrades. These are both options that require further exploration because there are likely to be trade-offs in implementing either of these mechanisms. However, we believe that the general principle that they are based on is correct: that Government should not bear the costs of digital inclusion alone.
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Read the overview
We have condensed the following National Delivery Plan 2023 into a 10 page PDF. This provides an overview of our approach, the six missions and their suggested actions.