- Data suggests proportion of UK homes without internet falls from 11% to 6%
- Younger people act as IT support to friends and relatives
- But older and financially vulnerable most likely to remain digitally excluded
- Quarter of vulnerable children struggle with device access for remote learning
The UK’s digital divide narrowed during the coronavirus pandemic, as people have gone online to escape the lockdown, Ofcom research suggests.
The proportion of homes without internet access appears to have fallen from 11% in March 2020, as the UK entered lockdown, to 6% of homes – around one and a half million – in March this year.[1]
Adults with previously limited digital skills have embraced online shopping, digital banking and video calling friends and relatives – while younger people acted as IT support, helping older or less digitally-confident friends and relatives get connected.
Minority remain digitally excluded, but ‘proxy internet’ users emerge
Despite many more people taking a leap of faith into the online world, for the 6% of households who remain offline, Ofcom’s research finds that digital exclusion during lockdown is likely to be more disempowering than ever.
Groups least likely to have home internet access are those aged 65+ (18% without access), lower income households (11% without access), and the most financially vulnerable (10% without access). Almost half of adults who remain offline say they find the internet too complicated (46%), or it holds no interest for them (42%). For others (37%), a lack of equipment is a barrier.
However, most people (60%) not using the internet at home have asked someone to do something for them online in the past year. Among these ‘proxy users’, the most common need was help in buying something (57%).
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