The National Delivery Plan for Ending Digital Poverty

The National Delivery Plan is a six-part mission devised by the Digital Poverty Alliance. It builds on the Government’s 2014 Digital Inclusion Strategy, and is designed to end digital poverty in the UK by 2030. The first phase involves steps that need to be enacted now, alongside a longer-term plan of further actions which can only take place once the initial phases have been completed. The first stages have already begun in 2023 and will continue throughout 2024, with a final projected completion date of 2030. In order to allow the plan to adapt to issues as they arise and to remain as current as possible, the timelines for each step will be updated every two years. And because of the sheer number of players involved in the rollout, the Digital Poverty Alliance has instated a new National Delivery Committee (NDC) to oversee everything; to corral the organisations, companies, and government departments involved and monitor their adherence to the National Delivery Plan. The Digital Poverty Alliance will also release an annual progress report, to “ensure visibility and transparency on the progress of actions in the plan” and to identify sectors that may be in need of additional support.

The Digital Poverty Alliance conducted research from Summer 2022 to March 2023 in order to develop the 6 following missions:

1. Increase awareness among government, politicians, industry, and the public about the need for sustainable and strategic action to end digital poverty
2. Ensure affordable connectivity and guarantee access to devices and connectivity for those in need
3. Improve standards of accessibility, safety and inclusiveness across all digital products and services
4. Significantly reduce the proportion of individuals without essential digital skills and ensure the sustainability, and expansion, of these skills in response to changing technologies and needs
5. Enhance knowledge and understanding of digital poverty among all stakeholders, including citizens, governments, and the public and private sectors, through the development and utilisation of research
6. Increase local capacity to provide joined-up digital inclusion support to individuals and communities

Joined-up Advocacy

With the looming general election, it is more important now than ever before to push an action to end digital poverty. We, as a society, need to unite behind a cohesive and sustainable action plan which improves the visibility of the issues relating to digital poverty in both the media and political discourse. To begin with, the Digital Poverty Alliance are calling for a national End to Digital Poverty Day to achieve maximum exposure of the problems of digital poverty.

Chartered Commitments

Employers in all sectors, both public and private, will be called upon to sign up to a charter for commitments to embrace and promote digital inclusion in their businesses. The provisional end date for sign up is May 2024.

A Sustainable Funding Model

Ideally, this mission would be taken on by the Cabinet Office. Regardless of which political party takes ownership of the government later this year, though, a clear and concise policy direction needs to be established within Westminster, as well as solid mechanisms to measure, evaluate and respond to progress.

Integrated Programme of Digital Inclusion

This part of the mission is dedicated to increasing awareness and supporting the public as England moves towards becoming a digital-first society. The transition of television from broadcast to online, the upcoming switching off of the PSTN phone network, and the shifting of financial services to being entirely online are huge changes that the public will need support to embrace.

Economic and Investment Case

Digital Poverty Alliance stakeholders will make a case for why industry and the government should be responsible for financing steps to grow digital inclusion, including the scaling-up of support already in place.

Device Donation

With the current cost-of-living crisis, there is yet another barrier to those on low incomes to getting and staying connected. This step of the mission involves reaching out to employers and individuals to donate unwanted devices to be given to the most digitally excluded.

Improve Signposting to Existing Support

The Digital Poverty Alliance will advocate that UK governments guarantee devices, connectivity, and support to those at greatest risk of digital exclusion, whilst increasing awareness of existing schemes and support for those who need it most.

Centres for Supported Digital Access

Digital hubs, such as libraries and community centres, which offer safe and inclusive environments that anybody can access, need to be protected and encouraged.

An Industry-wide Social Tarriff

This mission involves pressuring the Government to ensure that internet service providers convene to offer the public a sustainable, long-term social tariff, so that everybody has guaranteed access to a reliable internet connection of sufficient speed for modern needs. This includes reducing the VAT on broadband and mobile data bills to 5%, potentially to be funded by the implementation of a digital inclusion levy.

Scaling Existing Initiatives

Research has identified which individuals are most at risk of digital exclusion. Internet service providers have a responsibility to create and maintain initiatives that provide data and support to those most in need.

Universal Educational Access

UK governments have a duty to ensure universal access to sufficient digital devices for every pupil within the education system. The Department for Education will be required to complete periodic evaluations and updates of their Get Help with Technology scheme.

Promoting Inclusive Design

One aspect of this mission is to raise awareness about the importance of accessibility across all digital services and to encourage policymakers to review existing support available in regards to assistive technology. The Digital Poverty Alliance will campaign for all public sector and organisational websites to be more inclusive of a wider range of capabilities, and to adhere to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) standards.

Media Literacy

For Ofcom and the UK Government to promote media literacy (the ability to access and analyze media messages) training for individuals of all ages throughout their lifetime, and to ensure that policy regarding media literacy is evaluated and updated regularly.

Fines for Poor Accessibility

Ofcom should also have the power to enforce minimum accessibility requirements across non-public sector websites. The hope is that the implementation of a fining system will incentivise private sector organisations to ensure that their digital services are as accessible as possible.

Protection of Offline Options

Even with the implementation of this extensive delivery plan, there remains a realistic percentage of individuals who will still be unable, unwilling or both to access digital services. As such, offline options must continue to be available across both public and private sectors.

Build and Scale Support

Despite the myriad of programmes and initiatives, both formal and informal, that have been established across the UK in an attempt to raise awareness and manifest a core digital skill set, research has shown that the overall level of foundational digital skills across the population hasn’t changed significantly thus far. That is not to say that they are not having any success, just not as rapidly as has been necessitated by the advancement of digital technologies. A key aspect of this mission, therefore, is to build upon and scale up the help already available.

Digital Champions in the Workplace

Employers have an important role to play in the National Delivery Plan by pledging to install digital champions within their workforce, thereby promoting digital inclusion. This is of particularly high priority in the field of healthcare.

Embedding Digital

Schools, further education colleges and universities will require support to ensure that they have the capacity and the capability to make digital literacy a fundamental component throughout the learning experience. This begins with focused training for all teaching staff and the development of a tech ambassadors programme.

Extensive Reviewing

In order to determine how best to distribute support to the digitally excluded in a manner that will have the most cost-effective impact on addressing social inequalities, there needs to be a sweeping independent review of the current “essential digital skills landscape”. Such a review needs to take into consideration existing support, the longevity of said support’s funding, and the effectiveness of the mechanisms already in place to address the narrowing of the digital divide.

Establish a Universal Definition

A wealth of empirical studies, conducted both in the UK and abroad, already exist to measure digital poverty and the expanse of the digital divide amongst various communities. There is not, however, a universal definition of the term “digital poverty” and so discrepancies have emerged amongst the data gathered. A comprehensive definition would better position policymakers to understand the factors which contribute to digital poverty, thereby making them more effective at targeting them.

Longitudinal Studies

This mission involves advocating for the implementation of a longitudinal study which tracks changes in the rate and experience of digital poverty and digital exclusion over time.

Documenting Lived Experiences

The lived experiences of individuals deemed to be suffering from digital poverty, in particular the ways in which it intersects with and contributes to other factors of poverty, are an avenue which has yet to be thoroughly researched and documented. A multifaceted understanding of the practical consequences of digital poverty leads to a multifaceted strategy to negate them.

A “What Works” Hub

The final objective of this mission is to advocate for the development of a “what works” hub, in order to catalogue existing insight and commission further nuanced research, whilst also providing a forum for stakeholders to share ideas about policies and practice.

A Sense of Cohesion

An interconnected digital world requires an interconnected strategy, incorporating community organisations, skills providers, local authorities, health and care services, local governments, and employers; there is only so much that individual organisations, companies and the Government can do by themselves. People are ready to work together, they are already stepping up to help one another, but they need the right support and access to information and resources. The primary focus of this mission is to “join up” and coordinate digital inclusion support.

Driving the Digital Agenda

Local and regional governments have a critical role to play in propelling the digital inclusion agenda. Instating a dedicated digital inclusion lead in each constituency will work towards joining up activity at a local level.

A Responsive NHS

The NHS’ Long Term Plan and annual Digital Maturity Assessment need to be focused upon placing greater emphasis on supporting digital inclusion.

Effective Community Signposting

The majority of housing associations and community organisations already provide digital inclusion support. This support needs to be reinforced with effective signposting by local governments and Department of Work and Pension (DWP) services.

Promoting Best Practice

Affecting implementation of the Digital Inclusion Toolkit, consisting of guides and case studies to inform councils on their digital inclusion work, and the Digital Exclusion Risk Index (DERI), a tool to help visualise the likelihood of digital exclusion across geographic areas.

How You Can Support the National Delivery Plan

A cross-sector collaboration is necessary to tackle the ubiquitous issue of digital poverty. The National Delivery Plan is an important first step, but in order for it to be executed as effectively as possible, the Digital Poverty Alliance needs every ounce of support they can get.

Individuals can visit their pledge portal in order to pledge their support of one, or more, of the six missions outlined above; you can log in using your existing Facebook or Google account if you do not wish to create an account with them. You can also donate to their cause, either by donating cash, or by donating a device. Alternatively, you can help by spreading the plan on social media; download is completely free, but it does require you to input an email address. If you are not comfortable sharing your email address, you can help to publicise the plan simply by sharing this blog post on your social media.

If you have any thoughts or queries about the plan, you can contact the Digital Poverty Alliance here: hello@digitalpovertyalliance.org