Digital Inclusion… or Digital Exclusion… or Digital Poverty by Michael Law

Michael Law is a Project Management Apprentice the Business Development Manager for Social Care at Hammersmith and Fulham Council, writing for the Community Blogging Team.

Having run operational services in Social Care, such as Careline and Reablement, my role now is to look at new ways of working digitally, improving services with technology, and increasing independent living and wellbeing with assistive technology. I want to write about the challenges in facilitating change at work.

Back in 2014 the UK Government launched a digital inclusion strategy. Way back then a BBC report found that 21% of the UK population lacked the basic skills to benefit from the internet. The government strategy report said the believed that 10% of adults may never gain basic digital access because of disability or basic literacy skills. They then stated,  “Being able to improve adult digital and literacy skills is at the heart of reducing digital exclusion and helping people go online.” Resulting in a promise to reduce the number of people without basic digital skills by 25% every two years. By 2020, they said, everyone who can be digitally capable will be, claiming  …“The web will be for everyone!”

I work for a local authority, one of the London boroughs, in social care and the people we deliver our services to are often marginalised or excluded. As the world becomes more and more digitalised we worry that our people will be left behind. In the world of social care, along with health care, there is a big push to embrace technology and digital transformation both at an organisational level and at an individual resident / patient level. At an organisational level things like recording (social care records, medical records, assessments, and decisions), data collection, and communications have all been digitalised and not always successfully or coherently. The public sector is a bit behind the curve on thi due to funding, and sometimes the staff involved struggle to understand it. But most of all, we need to ensure that the most vulnerable have access to services, information & advice that they need to live independent and fulfilling lives.

Now in my organisation my go to guy about all things digital is JP. I have worked closely with JP for many years and he is an expert in Assistive Technology (AT). That’s equipment, products, or software that increases, maintains, or improves the functional capabilities, (especially in activities in daily living) of persons with disabilities or people with care needs. Or, as JP calls it, ‘kit’. This can be things like bed sensors, door sensors, a push button alarm, to the more complex kit like a falls detector or a GPS tracking device. The more complex it gets the more likely it will need the internet. Also any app or interactive kit will need the user to be digitally aware. JP and I are constantly involved in discussions around digital inclusion.

So to be digitally inclusive we need to know what stops people getting online and using digital services. Obviously, a lack of digital skills, the ability as defined by UNESCO “to use digital devices, communication applications, and networks to access and manage information.” A few years ago I introduced my parents to online grocery shopping. I showed them the Sainsbury website, showed them how to search for and pick items, and left them to it. Next time I visited they were perplexed. It is great they said but how the hell do you pay? You go to the ‘basket’ I said! What is the basket? they retorted. And there it was, I had somehow assumed that the little icon in the top right-hand corner would be the obvious next step in an online shopping experience. They were looking for the words PAY HERE.  

But this is not the only or even biggest barrier people face. Not everyone has access. Not everyone has a pc or a mobile and not everyone has the internet. When Covid hit us the social care day centres had to close leaving our most vulnerable people isolated. JP had the idea of a virtual day centre and I said great – let’s look into it. A couple of days later JP called me to say: “Bad news Guv, it turns out that of all the residents that go to day centres 80% don’t even have internet let alone a pc or tablet”. Back to the drawing board. 

Another issue is motivation. If you think being on the internet is a good thing you may want to  think about why you believe that, because not everyone does! A recent study found that, when asked what ‘the most important reason’ for not being online was, 62% of people (who aren’t)  say that they are ‘not interested’. A typical quote for this group is “Well I’ve survived this long without it, so I don’t see why I would ever need it in the future”. This is something that older people particularly feel. We collaborate with Age UK, who run an outreach service and a drop-in centre for people to come and learn how to get online. JP told me a story about when he was there one day waiting to tell people about what AT kit was available for elderly people. He sat watching people be shown how to log on, how to find services, and even how to turn the pc on. He noticed one elderly chap, probably in his eighties who was remaining on the outskirts of the group. JP got chatting. The old guy told him frankly that there was no use in this stuff for him. JP discovered that he was from Carriacou, a small island near Grenada, but hadn’t been back for nearly 60 years! Within moments JP, having grabbed one of the tablets, was showing him a Youtube video of his hometown, including the school he went to. And grown men wept. People have to be motivated to explore going online. 

Also trust is an issue, many people fear cyber-crime, and many feel they could get exploited. And although not all people are worried about trust issues, statistics show nearly 36% of people are worried about privacy. 
Then there is accessibility. New accessibility legislation came into force, in 2018, for all public sector organisations concerning accessibility for websites. Websites need to meet all users’ needs including those who need assistive tech to access digital services. Accessibility can be a barrier and lead to digital exclusion. Someone with impaired vision might need a ‘screen reader’ (software that lets a user navigate a website and ‘read out’ the content), braille display or screen magnifier. Or someone with motor difficulties might need a special mouse, speech recognition software or on-screen keyboard emulator. In our attempts to increase digital inclusion we have to understand what leads to digital exclusion. What barriers are being put in place that exclude people from having access?
Digital exclusion affects some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in society and for those of you who love the stats*, here you go. 

• 37% of the digitally excluded are social housing tenants. 
• 44% of people without basic digital skills are on lower wages or unemployed. 
• 17% of people earning less than £20,00 never use the internet compared with 2% of those earning more than £40,000. 
• 33% of people with disabilities have never used the internet
• And they account for 54% of the total number who have never used the internet
• 53% of people who lack basic digital skills are over 65
• And 69% are over 55
• 6% of people who lack digital are between 15 and 24
• But only 27% of young people who are offline are in full time employment
  *Gov.UK Policy Paper

What these stats tell us more than anything is that the most disadvantaged are the most likely to be digitally excluded and that is a double-whammy. This can really be described as digital poverty and as we become a more digital society, where services become digital by design or digital by default then the digitally excluded become more marginalised than ever. 

So where are we now? Recently the results from the 2020 census have been published and indicate an improvement. 92% of people contacted had been recent users of the internet ONS Census 2020. There was an increase of people over 75 using the internet and that was to be expected as people come into that age group that already are digital savvy. But there are still some people who are out of the loop and identifying them is the challenge. JP and I have been working with the London Office of Technology & Innovation (LOTI) and the Local Government Association (LGA) around these issues including things like digital exclusion mapping and a toolbox for community groups to set up inclusive digital events. “The Web will be for everyone!” Maybe.

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