We live in a digital-first society. It’s assumed that people can access a website, download an app, send an email; but for millions of adults in the UK this is not the reality.
Our increasing reliance on the internet and digital solutions since the Covid lockdowns has changed the way we do business, how we run our public services, and how we manage our own lives. Most people now use the internet; 96% of the UK population reported being online in 2023. As a result, there is less and less consideration for people who aren’t online.
There is a widening social and economic gap between those who are prepared for a digital future and those who are not.
This digital divide is cutting off key services and support for the most vulnerable. People are being left behind and disadvantaged for lacking the necessary online access, skills, or confidence; consequently going without help that could improve their lives.
Ongoing cost-of-living issues are driving many people who were already struggling further into financial hardship, the inequalities present in the digital divide are getting worse. In 2023, 2.5 million households in the UK disconnected their broadband packages as financial pressures mounted, 2.1 million people are still offline entirely, and 8.5 million people lack the basic digital skills needed to use the internet even when they do have access.
As we move toward an ever-more digital future, people who are able to take advantage of it are seeing better economic outcomes, working standards, and greater opportunity while the rest are left to struggle.
Digital exclusion is a massive and complex issue that requires a co-ordinated and long-term response. This report doesn’t aim to address every aspect of it or make recommendations for a nationwide solution. Instead, we have looked at the specific ways digital exclusion surfaces among our clients and the effect it has on frontline support organisations like Citizens Advice in North & West Kent (CANWK).
The clients in this report, some whose stories you will hear in detail, are some of the most vulnerable in our society. Digital exclusion has had a disproportionate impact on their lives. They need immediate short term solutions to their most pressing issues, as well as longer term governmental responses to deal with digital exclusion.
Clients are being cut off from local services critical to their financial and mental wellbeing. As local authorities adopt a digital-first approach to key services and support systems, our digitally excluded clients are being left behind without a way to access them.
The majority of the cases we found where digital exclusion was a factor were clients who could not manage online application processes for critical services and welfare benefits. These included applications to the Housing Register, Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction, and Personal Independence Payment, as well as appeals against Department of Work & Pensions decisions on new or existing benefits claims.
All of these services have adopted a digital-only or digital-first process, requiring both internet access and adequate digital skills to make and manage applications.
Our clients experiencing difficulties all had either:
Digital excluded people are less likely to make applications and less likely to submit applications correctly if they do. They are either put off by the need to engage with digital applications in the first place or struggle with meeting all the requirements of the online forms and document submissions. This exclusion can be explicit, such as having no option apart from a digital application, or they can be more subtle, such as making non-digital applications difficult to access. This places a great burden on client’s in terms of time and effort in trying to find a non-digital application and causes many clients to not complete applications.
Digital-only or digital-first access to applications exclude many of the most vulnerable people in society – including lower income households, older people, people with health conditions, disabilities, and language issues.
Mary’s Story
Mary lives with her husband in sheltered accommodation and deals with ongoing mental health issues that have left her feeling suicidal. They need to make an application to their local authority’s Housing Register, but neither Mary nor her husband are confident using computers. She is in her 70s, without internet access, and does not have anyone who could help her make an online application. When she first approached Citizens Advice for help, we couldn’t help her through the full application because it required an email address, something Mary didn’t have. This delayed her application and Mary felt lost as to how to continue.
When Citizens Advice spoke to the council’s housing team, we were told that they had withdrawn all options for paper applications and that no alternative existed. When our adviser highlighted the accessibility issues this presented and our client’s clear distress, the issue was escalated and a “strict exception” was granted for an in-person appointment. However, Mary would still need an email address and be capable of managing the application once submitted. Citizens Advice put Mary in touch with her local library, where a ‘Digital Buddy’ service helped her set up an email address and coached her on how to use it.
This process took over a year to resolve from the client’s initial need to join the register, caused unnecessary stress, worry, and financial burden for Mary, while still putting her in a difficult position trying to manage an online claim without the confidence to do so. Support for alternative forms of application and management within the service would have saved time, money, and improved client wellbeing.
Clients who were struggling with digital applications or other online tasks only approached us for help when it was a significant detriment to their financial or mental wellbeing. Digital exclusion was something they navigated in their daily lives without the time, money, or inclination to improve their online access and capability. The particular instance of digital exclusion that drove them to us was one they could not ignore or work around, such as resolving problems with housing providers, local councils, the DWP, or potential employers
When we dug a little deeper into these clients’ circumstances, it became clear that these were vulnerable people already stretched thin by cost of living increases and existing financial hardship. They were not presenting as being digitally excluded otherwise and had continued to live with that exclusion until it created potential for significant financial loss or other hardship.
Digital exclusion perpetuates existing inequality. We see a disproportionate effect on lower earners, older people, those with health conditions, and other societal groups already more likely to be disadvantaged. Out of all our digitally excluded clients, 71% were either in receipt of benefits or had disclosed a debt.
Kelly’s Story
Kelly is a single mum of four and carer for her disabled son. She can’t work full time as a result and is struggling with the cost of living. Kelly finds email and online applications difficult, despite having access to the internet at home, and this stops her from accessing a lot of financial support she desperately needs.
Recently, Kelly has been involved in a parking dispute with her neighbours. They’ve been threatening and aggressive, which has left Kelly feeling unsafe and worried for her son. At the same time, Kelly is dealing with disrepair that her landlord refuses to address and false allegations and harassment from people who know where she lives. She wants to get away from it all by moving somewhere else.
Without being able to afford new private accommodation, Kelly’s only choice is to go on the council’s housing waiting list to secure a move. After struggling through the online form she wasn’t able to complete everything needed for a digital application and the council are refusing to take anything else. Kelly simply doesn’t have the time or money for digital skills courses, She is left with the choice of struggling to secure unaffordable private accommodation or putting up with threats, aggression, and disrepair. She just wants her and her son to feel safe in their own home.
Frustrated and scared, Kelly came to Citizens Advice for help. A face to face appointment was made, where an adviser helped her complete her application successfully by uploading all supporting documentation. However, she is still left with the problem of managing the application online.
We currently help more clients with cost-of-living issues than we ever have before. People are struggling to afford essential costs and, as a result, are dealing with smaller and smaller budgets, growing debt, and homelessness. This has left people looking for any extra support they can get.
It’s these people who are most likely to be digitally excluded and the effect on them can be devastating. Clients may find themselves:
Digital exclusion doesn’t just mirror existing social divides, it also deepens them. CANWK clients are more likely to be facing financial hardship and seeking help to address it, and this is only worsened by lacking the digital skills needed to take advantage of online tools and resources for improving financial capability.
People categorised in ‘Low’ or ‘Very Low’ digital engagement groups in the Lloyds 2023 Consumer Index report were less likely to seek financial help, less likely to be able to save effectively, and less confident avoiding financial scams.
As online resources aimed at helping people navigate the cost of living crisis become better and more widespread, access to those resources and confidence searching for online help can determine a person’s ability to overcome financial hardship. Digital money management tools, price comparison sites, discounts, and online banking are all improving financial resilience. However, people who can’t access them are falling further behind.
Digital exclusion disproportionately affects the most vulnerable people in our communities. Our research looked at digitally excluded clients and we found that the group was demographically diverse and had a wide range of underlying issues, but they were all already facing disadvantages.
Our demographic and financial data shows that our digitally excluded clients are disproportionately older, facing financial hardship, or struggling with literacy, health conditions, or a disability.
Our client data matches what we know from nation-wide data. The Lloyds Consumer Digital Index report classifies 11% of 30-39 year olds as having lower digital capabilities, compared to 43% of 60-69 year olds and 49% of 70-79 year olds. Of those that have no access to the internet, 85% are over 50, and 1 in 4 have no formal qualifications.
CA clients in general show a relatively even age distribution, although over-60s make up a slightly higher proportion of the group. However, in 2023, older clients were disproportionately affected by digital exclusion.
Older clients are suffering from the effects of digital exclusion at a disproportionate rate. Clients in their 60s account for a full 25% of our digitally excluded clients compared to the 15% they represent of our general client base, while over-60s as a whole made up 55% of our digitally excluded clients versus 30% of our overall clients.
The disparity becomes more apparent in older age groups. While our sample size of digitally excluded clients is small in comparison to our total number of clients, it suggests that over 60s are 83% more likely to be digitally excluded than average for our client base.
Causes of digital exclusion are seen to change as clients get older with lack of internet access or an internet enabled device being the main reason for exclusion in the oldest clients. However 60-69 year olds buck this trend and are less likely to have access issues than people in their 40s and 50s. It would seem reasonable to assume that as a knock on effect lack of access would also be causing issues with digital skills and confidence in the oldest clients.
Age doesn’t tell the whole story – lack of digital skills across age groups is a significant problem. Half of our digitally excluded clients were under 60 and almost 1 in 5 were in their 30s. We expect these clients to be facing very different sets of circumstances than our older clients. There’s a societal assumption that if you’re in your 30s you know how to use digital devices and the internet – but strong digital skills and confidence in using the internet is not necessarily a given for younger people.
More than half of our clients in their 30s had issues caused by a lack of skills or confidence. The national conversation around digital exclusion can often focus on the left-behind older population, but there are many other factors that might result in digital exclusion and this is reflected in our findings.
Overall, limited or lack of access to the internet is the leading cause of digital exclusion for our clients. Disregarding age, 34% of our digitally excluded clients had limited or no access to the internet. Limited digital skills or a lack of confidence in using digital devices and the internet was also a significant issue with 28% of our clients identifying it as the leading issue.
This is a very simple way of quantifying a very complex issue. Clients may all be cut off for a wide range of reasons, including a lack of digital skills, confidence or financial barriers. None of these are quick or easy to fix, and as we demonstrated in the first part of this report, the impact can be damaging and widespread.
Research has shown that digital exclusion is not going away. Reports from organisations like Ofcom, Lloyds Bank, and Good Things Foundation have shown 25% of adults in the UK have the lowest digital skills capability rating, with 8.5 million not meeting the Foundational Level of the Essential Digital Skills framework, a measurement used by the Department of Education to assess capabilities. Meanwhile, in 2023 12.2 million people had to look for cheaper internet or mobile data and the number of those disconnected from the internet entirely has risen to 2.1 million.
Even in the event of a comprehensive, nation-wide government strategy for digital inclusion being implemented, we will be living with this digital divide for a long time to come.
We’re concerned that the available digital support offered locally misses the mark for the clients we saw in our research. While structured, skill-based courses are useful and should be widely available, they do little for our vulnerable clients struggling with individual, critical, and time-sensitive digital exclusion issues. Instead, we have had to look to the processes and support surrounding the most prevalent issues we encountered within our research.
As both local and national services increasingly move toward digital-only or digital-first models and budgets become more and more stretched, we are seeing greater numbers of clients falling through the gaps in support.
It is implicitly, and sometimes explicitly, assumed that clients will come to a service like Citizens Advice for help. However, services like ours cannot overcome issues of access to the internet and digital skills. This leaves both the client and frontline support services with a difficult situation to navigate. There are now very few options available to help clients without internet access and in some cases councils have asked CA to create and manage an email account for an individual to save them having to provide and administer a paper form.
This has knock-on effects for frontline services like Citizens Advice. The time spent back and forth between the service provider, whether the council, the DWP, or housing association, and the client is time away from providing the kind of specialist advice and help that is unique to our service. When public and private services don’t provide alternatives for digitally excluded users as part of their design, the wider community suffers too. Frontline organisations like Citizens Advice are left to fill the gap.
This report recommends that support for the digitally excluded should be embedded in the service design. On grounds of equity all public service providers should offer non digital alternatives to digital services – whether in the form of paper applications or face-to-face support. Critical public service funding is being stretched to breaking point. We understand the pressures placed on local authorities right now, but we can’t allow that to contribute to the digital divide leaving millions in the UK unable to access vital services and support. Whatever the solution, it should be one that works for both service providers and its users.
While short-term measures are needed to support the most vulnerable in our communities, it must also precede a long-term vision for change.
Finally, we call on all providers of public-facing services to recognise that making things digital does not necessarily make them better. Not everyone wants to be online, or online all the time. And some level of digital disparity will inevitably endure even in a highly inclusive society. Accessible services and offline alternatives are essential to ensuring people are not left behind in an increasingly connected world.
— House of Lords report into Digital Exclusion, June 2023