Brits receiving the State Pension could be set up with free devices under a new £9.5m fund designed to get more people online. As part of the Labour Party government’s Plan for Change, The Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund aims to “help more people get online, drive economic growth and raise living standards”.
Charities and councils have been encouraged to assist more people in getting online, as The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) explained that digital exclusion is stopping too many people from reaching their potential.
Earlier this week, on 13 August, it was revealed that local charities and councils could benefit from £9.5m in new UK government funding announced “to turbo-charge grassroots efforts to help the 1.6 million people in the UK who can’t access the online world.”
DSIT confirmed: “Funding will be awarded based on merit to the highest scoring applications, while ensuring as much as possible that projects are funded across all nine regions of England.” The new funding will focus on older people of state pension age, so those born before 1959, who are less likely to use the internet.
The scheme includes providing devices such as phones and laptops to the digitally excluded. Councils and local authorities will be responsible for distributing the tech devices to those in need, reports the Liverpool Echo.
Labour Party Minister for Media, Tourism and Creative Industries Sir Chris Bryant said: “It is unacceptable that in 2025, millions of people across the UK simply can’t access the vast opportunities that technology and the online world offers. Digital inclusion is an essential for modern life and work, not just something that’s nice to have, and it forms a critical part of our Plan for Change.”
He added: “Making technology widely accessible could be the thing that means a sick patient can speak to a GP remotely, or that helps a young person successfully apply for a job. Through this funding we’re moving further to empower local leaders and groups nationwide, who are already working tirelessly to get their communities connected and change countless lives for the better.”
The Government has launched its Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund as part of the Digital Inclusion Action Plan, which also includes plans to pilot a device donation scheme, so re-purposed Whitehall laptops will go to people who need them.
Older and disabled people, low-income households and jobseekers are among the groups more likely to be digitally excluded, according to the plan.
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