Insight Paper: Breaking Down Barriers to Digital Inclusion: A Housing Sector Imperative
Introduction
Digital transformation is reshaping the way we deliver services across every industry. In social housing, where residents often face complex needs and entrenched inequalities, the stakes are especially high. For all its promise, the journey to a truly inclusive digital future remains uneven — particularly for those most reliant on support. That’s why February’s Housing Hive, “Breaking Down Barriers to Digital Inclusion”, brought together leading voices to share insight, strategy, and optimism for change.
“You can’t function day to day without digital anymore…”
Emma Weston, CEO of Digital Unite, didn’t mince words. “It’s 2025 and we still have 16.8 million people in the UK with low or very low digital skills. That’s mind-boggling.” From Universal Credit to NHS services, to booking a GP appointment or reporting damp and mould in a home — digital tools aren’t just convenient, they’re essential.
Yet digital exclusion persists. The most recent data from the UK government confirms that 1.6 million people are completely offline. Even among those with some connectivity, nearly one-third of adults (32%) lack basic digital skills. Social housing residents are disproportionately affected. According to Openreach, over a third of digitally excluded people live in social housing【source†Openreach】.
Emma’s warning landed clearly with the Housing Hive audience: “If you’re not digitally included, your life will be harder, more expensive, more isolated.”
Three Groups, One Sector-Wide Challenge
To frame the discussion, Prodo’s Jacob Howell outlined three distinct groups of customers housing providers typically serve:
Prodo’s platforms are designed to serve the first two groups well. But as Jacob pointed out: “We know that to truly increase satisfaction, capacity and compliance — we have to do more to support Group Three.”
This isn’t just about ‘channel shift’. It’s about fairness. And in a regulatory landscape increasingly shaped by consumer standards and the Equality Act, doing more to reach excluded groups is no longer optional.
Government Steps In: The 2025 Digital Inclusion Action Plan
Emma Weston pointed to a turning point: “The government has finally published its first digital inclusion strategy in over 14 years — and it’s very encouraging.”
The new Digital Inclusion Action Plan: First Steps, released in February 2025, sets out five priority areas:
Crucially, the plan emphasises cross-sector collaboration and whole-of-government leadership — bringing together housing, health, Treasury, and education under a unified framework. It also signals a willingness to lead by example: the government will pilot a national device recycling scheme using surplus IT equipment from across departments — something panellist Scott Tandy praised as “a big step forward”.
For the housing sector, the plan reinforces what many already know: digital inclusion must be embedded into core service strategies, not treated as a ‘nice to have’ or separate CSR initiative.
Building Trust: “You can’t lead with skills if people don’t feel safe”
When asked what most often blocks digital engagement, the panel was unanimous: trust.
Emma Weston explained: “People don’t want to come to a workshop on ‘learning digital skills’. That’s abstract. But if you say ‘come and find cheaper deals’ or ‘learn how to use your Nectar card on your phone’ — then you’re meeting them at their point of need.”
Christian Page of Newport City Homes shared a perfect example: “We went into one of our over-55s schemes and loaded up their phones with all their loyalty cards — Clubcard, Nectar, Superdrug. One person saw how easy it was, and we had a queue around the block.”
This small intervention led to a surge in interest in broader support — including use of the Newport City Homes tenant app.
Scott Tandy from Newydd Housing Association echoed the importance of taking services to where people are. “Libraries and community centres work because they’re familiar and accessible. Asking someone to come to your head office for help won’t work.”
Train the Trainer: A Model That Scales
To tackle exclusion at scale, Digital Unite advocates a ‘train-the-trainer’ approach — building a network of trusted local champions who cascade skills and support.
“98% of the champions we train say their own digital skills improved,” said Emma Weston. “It’s sustainable. It builds internal capacity and external reach.”
Scott’s work at Newydd demonstrates this in practice. “We used to run all the sessions ourselves. Now, because we’ve partnered with Digital Unite, local authorities and libraries, our digital drop-ins run every day of the week. The support has scaled without burning out our team.”
It’s not just about numbers. It’s about normalising digital inclusion as part of everyday frontline engagement — from housing officers to community workers and repairs operatives.
Affordability: “People want to keep the device – and that’s okay”
Access to hardware remains a core barrier. As Monmouthshire Housing highlighted during the webinar’s Q&A, many residents can’t afford their own devices, even after borrowing them.
Scott shared Newydd’s solution: a blended loan-to-own model, where refurbished staff laptops are donated to tenants after a set period. “We wipe them, restore them and offer them as gifts — often funded by local contractors under community benefit clauses.”
Cost per device? Around £30–50.
Return on investment? Significant.
“Contractors love it because their donation is promoted at every event, on every screensaver, for years,” Scott said. “And for residents, it’s transformative.”
Both Scott and Christian also praised local charities and social enterprises offering loan schemes, with one caution: “Demand always outstrips supply. Government leadership on recycling is vital.”
Skills, Safety, and the Evolving Digital Landscape
Digital isn’t static. AI, cyber scams, two-factor authentication — the ground shifts fast.
Emma Weston warned against assuming younger people are automatically ‘safe’: “Digital natives might be confident, but they’re often the least aware of how to protect their data. Security is a digital inclusion issue.”
That’s why training needs to be continual, adaptive, and community-led. “When Scott hears someone ask ‘what is AI?’ at a drop-in, he can build the next session around that,” Emma added. “That’s the benefit of boots-on-the-ground insight.”
This approach also allows for proactive myth-busting — critical in an environment where sensationalist headlines about fraud and surveillance can undermine trust in digital services.
Internal Digital IQ: Inclusion Starts at Home
One of Emma Weston’s final messages was aimed squarely at leadership teams: “Don’t just think externally. Raise the digital inclusion IQ of your own staff and board. This isn’t just about customers — it’s about building a digitally competent organisation.”
Christian agreed: “Often, colleagues have their own digital support needs. Or they might have family members who do. When staff feel supported, they become better advocates.”
Emma even went a step further: “I’d like to see digital inclusion training made a mandatory part of compliance — alongside safeguarding and health and safety.”
Funding or Investment?
“Start using the word investment,” Emma advised. “Funding sounds optional. But what’s the cost of not doing this? Wasted digital systems. Isolated tenants. Lower satisfaction. Non-compliance. This is business-critical.”
The panel agreed: digital inclusion shouldn’t be seen as a bolt-on or cost centre. It should be central to customer engagement, service delivery, and long-term value.
Where Do We Go From Here?
The final call from all panellists was clear: Start somewhere. Don’t wait for the perfect plan.
Key Takeouts
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