Digital strategies
Digital Deal Challenge Fund
Digital Deal is a digital inclusion Challenge Fund for the social housing sector run as a cross-government initiative supported by the Department for Work and Pensions and Department for Communities and Local Government and aimed at trialling and spreading ways of getting social housing tenants to engage with their landlords online.
It has so far supported 12 social landlord led pilot projects, testing new, innovative ways for social tenants to firstly get online, but to also transact online. Tinder Foundation has delivered and project managed the fund.
A number of hugely competitive bids for funding were received, which included lots of creative ways for getting tenants online, particularly focussing around migration to Universal Credit. While the main aim of the project was to stimulate an improvement of the digital skills for social housing tenants, the project has also stimulated an improvement in community life as well, with a number of signs that the project is benefiting tenants both economically and socially across various UK sites.
One particularly successful project saw Golden Gates Housing Trust, Warrington convert residents televisions into Android devices. Around half of tenants were interested in having their TV converted, 70 volunteers expressed their desire to help out and Digital Champions provided simple, thorough one-on-one or very small group training sessions. The project was affordable, tailored and effective with each device having ‘buttons’ - such as one that linked directly to Universal Credit pages - specific to the person using it. The project involved local businesses and organisations, and was seen as a real community effort.
The Digital Deal programme is still under way, and we look forward to hearing further success stories as it reaches its close in the summer.
Case study: Essex man shares his skills
Richard Dewet, a South Essex Homes resident had a keen interest in computers and the internet and while unemployed, has been volunteering as a Digital Lead, sharing his expertise with others in the community, as well as gaining valuable experience.
Responding to an article in the residents’ magazine, Richard applied to become a Digital Lead, and took part in a training programme delivered by South Essex Homes, helping him develop his skills to recondition old PCs and laptps.
As well as dealing with the very technical aspects of the project, being a Digital Lead has meant Richard has also been supporting learners at outreach sessions at a local ASDA store, offering one to one support to people wanting to get to grips with computers and the internet for the first time, something Richard has found incredibly fulfilling. He says:
“My role has been to make sure people acquire new skills and understanding but I’ve been really surprised by how much I’ve learnt from helping them!”
Richard is keen that as many people as possible benefit from getting online:
“I’ve met so many people and I’m really enjoying helping them realise the power and usefulness of the internet. I really hope many more people get involved because the possibilities of the web really are endless.”
By getting involved in the Digital Deal project of South Essex Homes, Richard has also had the chance to develop his own skills, ready to get back into work. He explains:
“I really believe that the internet and technology in general should be accessible to everyone and thanks to this project I’ve become really passionate about open source software. I joined a local Linux user group, and from that was invited to an exhibition about the Raspberry Pi module, getting even more technical experience.
“I can’t believe how much this project has helped me, from building my confidence to helping me meet new people with common interests and even gain new skills. This project has opened so many doors for me already andI’m trying hard to get back into work, so hope it can open at least one more.”
A Leading Digital Nation by 2020
This report, authored by Catherine McDonald and commissioned by Tinder Foundation and Go ON UK, set to take a look at digital inclusion from a different angle, costing out the necessary measures to equip 100% of the adult UK population with the basic online skills needed for a sustained internet usage. At the time of the report’s publication in February 2014, therewere 11 million people in the UK without these skills, with the figure project to be over 6 million in 2020 if current investment rates were to continuecontinued.
The mathematical model took intoaccount how difficult some groups are to affect, factoring in things like employment status, disability and income, and accounting for the differences incost necessary to overcome each barrier. It revealed the average costs of supporting individuals within the final 6 million would be around £47 perperson. Split between the government, the private sector and the voluntary and community sector, the investment would need to be £875 million each.
The report showed that the need for investment will increase year on year, as these marginalised groups become increasingly digitally excluded. The benefits individually are vast, as they are for the government too - shopping and paying bills online could save the average person £560 per year, while if just 1% of current NHS visits were referred to NHS Choices, the government would save £108 million per year.
The report received positive feedback and was circulated widely around the internet. We’re hopeful that both individuals and organisations heed its advice and push for wider investment sooner, rather than later, in order to ensure a digitally capablenation by 2020. You can read the report here.
Supporting SMEs in the North East with Lloyds bank
One of our recent projects has seen us collaborate with Lloyds Bank to develop a pilot with the aim of enhancing and improving North East SMEs’ digital skills for the benefit of local communities and the region as a whole.
It has been an exploratory, research intensive process, but one which appears to be garnering positive feedback despite only being in its infancy. The project will train Lloyds staff, as well as providing direct training to local SMEs. Local delivery has been run by UK online centre Destinations@Saltburn who have supported SMEs all over the region.
It has proven hugely important for the individuals supported, some of whom have no digital skills at all, and some of whom have a very limited knowledge. Each has seen the benefits of one on one training, and guidance and advice on next steps.
The pilot is ultimately about local and regional business growth, and positive feedback has already been received. The programme should save enterprises both time and money, and in theory should encourage more interaction with local businesses, which can only benefit the regional economy more widely as the pilot grows in stature. We believe the model will be scalable, and above all else, sustainable. Come July we hope to see the programme’s success encouraging more organisations, UK online centres and SMEs to adopt a similar approach.
Case study: North East man boosts business with digital skills
A café owner in Redcar and Cleveland has been using technology to expand his business and free up time to spend with his family - thanks to the support of his local UK online centre.
When Phil Green was made redundant from his job as a baker, he took the opportunity to open his own café in the town. Phil explains: “I was a baker for 14 years and love cooking at home, so the idea of starting a business doing what I loved seemed obvious.”
Several years of hard work made a success of the café and soon Phil saw the opportunity to grow his business. He tells us: “We’re always looking to expand and the opportunity came up when the Local Authority opened a tender to take over the running of a café in a local museum.”
However, as soon as Phil and his wife Claire began to look into the new project, they realised they were going to need some help if they were going to make it a success: “With the first café, we’d tried to run the business as simply as possible, doing nearly everything - order forms, stock management, you name it - on paper. We took one look at the tender and realised that that wasn’t going to work for much longer. “The whole process was online, and we didn’t really know where to start. I could just about search Google for a recipe but my computer skills ended there.”
Fortunately for Phil, help was at hand. “I saw a piece in a local paper by Paul Davies, manager at Destinations@Saltburn, saying how they could help anyone - including small businesses - make the most of technology.”
Phil got in touch and Paul was soon helping with all manner of things. Phil says: “As soon as we started thinking about working out of two premises, we had realised how difficult something like stock management would become. But with Paul’s help we were setting up spreadsheets, and getting everything streamlined and as efficient as possible. He was really great at listening to our needs and showed us the programmes and tools that would be most useful to us and our business.”
“We were over the moon to win the tender,” says Phil. “But without Paul’s support we wouldn’t even have been able to start the application. We can’t thank him enough.”
And it’s not all about business: “The amount of time we’re saving by using spreadsheets and banking online means that we can spend more time together as a family. After everything we’ve been through, that means the world.”