Digital Inclusion

Digital inclusion is an issue that has come to the fore since the coronavirus pandemic struck, forcing people to interact online for more purposes, and in greater numbers, than ever before. The isolation and hardship faced by those who are unable to interact online with confidence has been the subject of national news items, as well as efforts to alleviate the compound issues around the subject, across the country as well as in Cornwall.

Cornwall’s Digital Inclusion Strategy 2019-2023 is currently being updated to account for changes made necessary by the impact of the pandemic.

The 2019 Strategy states that 13% of the population of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (approximately 71,000 people) have never used the internet.

Digital inclusion is often defined in terms of:

• Digital literacy and skills – being able to use computers, the internet and mobile technology such as smart phones. This is an obvious barrier, but it’s by no means the only or biggest one that people can face.
• Accessibility – ranging from broadband connectivity and assistive technology to the design and provision of services to meet all users’ needs.
• Affordability – affordable access to the internet and digital devices is still an issue for many people in the region.

There are three other factors which influence whether or not people are prepared to use digital channels:

• Motivation – knowing the reasons why digital is a good thing and would be beneficial
• Trust – ‘will my data be safe’, ‘can I really get a good service online without speaking to someone?’
• Confidence – ‘will I break something if I click on a button’, or ‘I think I know how to do it but I really need someone to help me the first couple of times.’

Each of these addresses a single specific barrier that some, but not all, people and organisations face. There is seldom just one reason why people are digitally excluded, and there is no single approach to solving it, nor can we expect that absolutely everyone can utilise digital technology.

Digital Inclusion Opportunities in Cornwall

There are a lot of opportunities across Cornwall to get on-line:-

Cornwall Council’s Digital inclusion team has some simple support for people, including free online resources.

The team understands that supporting people to get online is not a one-size-fits-all service, with many potential barriers to be overcome. One-to-one support is the best way forward, with on-call staff able to talk people through the basics, often more than once, until they are confident.

Digital Champions are also part of Cornwall’s strategy, recruiting people within local communities who are confident in their digital skills, and training them to support and inspire others locally.

Social prescribers have begun to link patients up with basic introductory IT sessions, for issues such as isolation and specialist support, especially since such services were being delivered online for much of 2020 and 2021.

Other local providers offer IT support for complete beginners. For full details see our Resources sheets on Digital Inclusion, and Free online resources.

Inclusion Cornwall’s Role

Our role is to ensure the residents of Cornwall can access online services quickly and easily, if they wish to do so – and can continue to access all appropriate services whether they are online or not. We respect people’s decision not to be using online services, and ensure they can still access those services by another means. 

We hear from customers every week that they have no digital access, or the know-how to use it if they did have it. Sometimes these people contact us to say that they need to use online services or digital devices, and we are able to signpost people to those who can help them, and take the fear out of the process.

During Covid we know that a lot of new digital users were supported by colleagues in different organisations, ensuring that they received support that was not available face-to-face at that time. However since then, we know that many are requesting a return to face-to-face conversations, and we also support this.