Digital Inclusion
Find out why digital inclusion is important and how you can help your tenants get online.
It is thought that 4.1 million of the 8.7 million adults who have never been online live in social housing.
Why is Digital Inclusion Important?
Education and Life Chances
Home access to a computer and the internet can improve children’s educational performance. If the 1.6 million children who live in families which do not use the internet got online at home, it could boost their total lifetime earnings by over £10 billion.
Employment and Skills
It is estimated that between 75%and 90% of jobs require at least some computer use. Being online also gives people more opportunities to search and apply for jobs.
Saving Money
Offline households are missing out on estimated savings of £560 per year from shopping and paying bills online.
Welfare Reforms
The benefits system is changing. From April 2013 a new Universal Credit will be introduced to replace many current benefits, including Housing Benefit and Job Seeker's Allowance. The Government wants 80% of applications for Universal Credit to be online by 2017.
What can I do?
If you’re interested in finding out more about how you can help your tenants get online, you can find out more on Go ON UK:
- access lots of resources
- sign up as a partner
- encourage people in your area to become adigital champion as part of the ‘Go On, Give an hour’ campaign.
Where can I find out more information?
Digital by Default report
This report was produced by Housing Technology, with Race Online 2012 and sponsored by Family Mosaic, RCT Homes and Richmond Housing. It includes case studies of how housing associations are working to provide their tenants with online access and gives many examples of engaging digital inclusion projects.
Digital Housing Hub
The Digital Housing Hub is designed to help social housing providers to embed a 'digital by default' strategy. The website provides lots of tools and resources including advice on writing a business case for digital inclusion.
UK Online Centres
The UK online centres network is made up of 3,800 centres, including housing associations, community centres and libraries. Their website gives access to training materials and more information on how to join the network.