Category: Notes and Reviews

A Note on the Digital Inclusion Action Plan: First Steps
24/10/2025

Dr Mikael Leidenhag, Alyson Hwang

Digital exclusion has ripple effects across society, and fixing the digital divide requires multiple tools and collaboration between business, civil society, local authorities, and central governmental actors. With its policy paper “Digital Inclusion Action Plan: First Steps”, the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology outlines 5 key actions to improve digital inclusion. This includes the establishment of a governmental “Digital Inclusion and Skills Unit” to support local initiatives to increase digital participation.

While acknowledging the great potential of digital technologies to enhance lives and create opportunities, it also highlights the grim reality of digital exclusion as more essential services move online. It cites, as an example, statistics from the Centre for Social Justice, estimating that “on average, consumers that are not online could pay 25% more for things like home insurance, train travel and food than consumers who are online.” Those who remain offline are also significantly more likely to suffer unemployment.

The plan emphasises several crucial aspects for closing the digital divide. In addition to boosting digital skills training, mitigating digital device poverty, and breaking down barriers to accessing digital services, the plan demonstrates an understanding of the need for building confidence; the confidence to understand the benefits of being online, and how to navigate the digital world safely. This emphasis on digital confidence is welcome and, as we highlighted earlier, “while a lack of digital skills training initiatives is an important factor for understanding the digital divide, we also need to acknowledge that a lack of confidence and motivation are significant barriers to creating a digitally inclusive society.”[1]

Equally, the Action Plan foregrounds local partnership and inter-sectoral collaboration, engaging local authorities, third-sector organisations, and private entities which are uniquely situated to identify specific community needs and deliver tailored services accordingly.  As the plan explains, this “approach and focus on delivery puts the emphasis where it is needed, directly in communities.” As we concluded in a report of the Local Digital Skills Partnership supported by the then-called Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport, delivering digital skills initiatives in close collaboration with local stakeholders yields both economic benefits in terms of increased labour market participation and civic benefits.[2] Local stakeholders can more easily provide personalised support, and often have the credibility to foster connections between citizens and digital inclusion resources.

The Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund is also a principal component of the Government’s Action Plan. It has acted as a key driver for targeted interventions this year and beyond, with £7.2 million allocated to support regionally focused projects aimed at those most at risk of digital exclusion. This fund, which provides grants ranging from £25,000 to £500,000, is structured to facilitate the piloting of innovative methodologies intended to generate a robust evidence base for effective practices. This has potential for strategic scaling and replication of such initiatives on a national level. The most recent round of funding concluded in September 2025, with the initial phases of new pilot projects scheduled for commencement in November and all associated activities to be completed by March 2026. Among these pilot schemes are the device donation collaboration with the Digital Poverty Alliance, which aims to refurbish and distribute government-owned laptops to individuals experiencing device poverty. This also includes the appointment of Digital Inclusion Leads within local initiatives such as the Forward Trust pilot in East Kent, Medway, and Southend, which delivers personalised support, free data SIM cards, and tailored digital confidence programmes to vulnerable populations. Collectively, the Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund and its subsequent pilot schemes exemplify a commitment to evidence-informed, community-based interventions – the challenge now will to be sustain such efforts and ensure there are no cold spots across the nation. However, existing literature and previous reports indicate that the implementation of these upskilling initiatives depend on funding to deliver success. The initiation of long-term digital skills strategies requires “sufficient spending stability”, which means something more substantial than reactive and fragmented short-term, ringfenced, small grants. A bold vision to close the digital divide requires robust financial commitments. Hence, while we welcome the recently launched Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund, our hope is that these project grants do not enforce short-termism and that they can offer support in-depth.[3]

We have previously highlighted the holistic character of digital inclusion and that we need a multi-faceted approach; that is, “one that understands that digital exclusion cannot be measured solely in terms of a lack of access.”[4] As such, an improvement in “infrastructure does not necessarily translate into digital adoption and beneficial use.”[5] The Government’s definition of digital inclusion takes on a similarly holistic character, noting helpfully that digital exclusion ranges from skills, data/device poverty, barriers to accessing digital services, all the way to a lack of trust and concerns over privacy and security. However, since digital exclusion is a holistic issue, it is a constantly shifting target that demands continuous reassessment. This is due to the constantly changing technological standards, user expectations, and available services, which all necessitate ongoing adaptation of digital inclusion initiatives.

The Government further aims to “collaborate with local authorities, Jobcentre Plus, public libraries, and others to identify better ways of working together to align support; and the role of trusted members of the community to give informal help.” This is admirable but, as we highlighted in an article on the importance of libraries for combatting digital exclusion, “it is unreasonable for the government to foist this responsibility on them without adequate funding” and investment.[6] Political aspirations must be supported by strategic funding, and for these entities to function as “digital literacy support hubs”, they need robust support beyond short-term funding initiatives.

References

[1] See https://www.digitalinclusionuk.org/news-insights/lack-of-confidence-and-motivation

[2] See https://www.digitalinclusionuk.org/research/evaluation-of-local-digital-skills-partnerships

[3] A point echoed by TechUK: https://www.techuk.org/resource/government-launches-digital-inclusion-innovation-fund.html 

[4] See https://www.digitalinclusionuk.org/news-insights/we-need-a-holistic-understanding-of-digital-inclusion

[5] https://www.digitalinclusionuk.org/news-insights/we-need-a-holistic-understanding-of-digital-inclusion

[6] https://www.digitalinclusionuk.org/research/the-importance-of-libraries-for-combating-digital-exclusion