Every home should have devices and connectivity to meet the needs of 21st Century life, Social Mobility Commission said

Every household should have access to affordable devices and networks to “engage in 21st century education and employment systems”, a report from Social Mobility Commission (SMC) has recommended.

The State of the Nation 2020–21: Social Mobility and the pandemic report said a portion of the digital infrastructure budget should be ring-fenced “so that skills and access provision increase proportionate to infrastructure spending.”

Everyone should also be “equipped with the essential digital skills for life”. Every child leaving school should have such skills, and training and assessment of digital skills should be included in relevant apprenticeship programmes.

Employers should be “incentivised to ensure they equip people in their sphere of influence with digital skills”, the report said.

It found that when the pandemic hit in March 2020, a little over half — 51% — of households earning between £6,000 and £10,000 had home internet access, compared with 99% of homes where the income exceeded £40,000 a year.

The Commission called for an end to laptop poverty and hailed a campaign for businesses to donate laptops and tablets to children who had no devices from which to study.

“So far, 2,214 laptops have been donated. The award-winning campaign is still running and whilst it is recognised that students from lower socio-economic backgrounds do still face challenges around access to wifi or digital skills training, it shows how individuals,

employers and charities worked together to support those in need during the pandemic,” the report said.

The SMC welcomed the UK government’s National Infrastructure Strategy, announced in December 2020, to work with the private sector to deliver fast and reliable internet connect across the country by 20213.

However welcome this is, it “does not mean everyone will be able to benefit….it is estimated that one in every seven adults in Wales and Scotland is currently not able to afford private, sufficient and reliable internet to meet their essential needs”.

Furthermore, the report said, “providing internet connection alone is not enough: nine million adults lack the foundation skills (such as turning on a computer), 11.7 million adults lack the essential digital skills for life (such as buying something online) and 17.1 million do not have digital workplace skills.

“Many among those 17.1 million do not know how to use the internet to search for a job, write a CV or attend a virtual job interview. The lack of essential digital skills needed for work negatively impacts these disadvantaged people’s employability by trapping them in low-paid jobs.”

The report said that the Covid pandemic had “revealed the extent to which the UK policy has failed to make a substantial impact on the digital skills level of the population, particularly when it comes to addressing regional disparities”. While 10% of Londoners felt confident in using digital technology, this was true of 17% in the east of England.

Meanwhile, 13% of people in Wales remained offline compared with 5% of the population of England. The report said: “A new digital strategy is due in autumn 2021. The pandemic has demonstrated the need for increased funding and organisational support for adults’ digital skills provision.”