10.2 million people lack the basic digital skills they need to function in society.

Around 2.5 million households can’t afford the internet, leaving them left behind and not enough has been done to tackle digital poverty, Labour conference has been told.

At a fringe event entitled Left Out: How to tackle the poverty premium and digital exclusion, organised by the centre for social justice, attendees were told that 10.2 million people lack the basic digital skills they need to function in society.

Stephen Timms MP, chair of the DWP select committee, told the event that around 7 million people are paying multiple poverty premiums in the UK. The poverty premium is the idea that the poor pay more for essential goods and services.

In the UK, the premium costs the average low-income household £490 a year. However, it can be as much as £1,190 for some people. It includes people in poverty having to pay more for services such as using more expensive pre-payment meters, paying to receive paper bills due to lack of internet access and having to pay more for insurance.

Nearly 15 million people in the UK have very low engagement with the internet, with 6% of the UK population having no access to the internet and 20% of young people aged 8-24 lacking the ability to get online.

Timms told the event that the government does not have a credible strategy to tackle digital exclusion.

Helen Milner, Chief Executive of the Good things foundation told the conference: ‘We believe fixing the digital divide is urgent’, as she highlighted how a manual worker who is digitally included earns £5,000 more than those who are digitally excluded.

Milner called for more leadership to tackle digital exclusion, and for it to be included in the Labour Party’s manifesto, saying we ‘need a proper long-term commitment to fixing the digital divide’, as we ‘cannot afford to leave millions of people behind.”

Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward

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