Charity calls for digital skills shake-up

Leading Digital Skills charity Citizens Online has called for a radical change to the way the 6.8m offline adults in the UK are given skills training and support.  Read more here.

In a white paper jointly published with channel shift experts, Trapeze Transformation, they say that current initiatives are unlikely to substantially reduce the Digital Divide and that a new “Systemic” approach is needed.

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While the UK as a whole has become one of the most digitally enabled nations in the world, with more than 80 per cent of households having broadband and averaging three internet enabled devices, there remains a persistent minority who have never been online and a larger group who only use the Internet in a limited way.

The research suggests that statutory bodies in local communities, including the local council, Job Centre Plus and Housing Associations, will only succeed in tacking digital exclusion if they collaborate with voluntary sector organisations to build an evidenced based “digital ecosystem”.