Mayor of London bids to get 75,000 digitally excluded Londoners online

A new scheme to help tens of thousands more Londoners get online and reduce digital exclusion has been launched today by the Mayor Sadiq Khan, in partnership with the London Office of Technology and Innovation (LOTI), and Good Things Foundation.

An estimated 270,000 Londoners have no access to the internet or digital access at all, with a further 2 million having very limited use, for example those without their own device to get online, or those who can get online but have difficulty accessing online forms or internet banking.

The service will be funded by the London Recovery Programme as part of Sadiq’s commitment to upskilling Londoners, aiding post-covid recovery and boosting the economy.

Research by the London Office of Technology & Innovation (LOTI) has found there are more than 100 different initiatives across the capital to address digital exclusion[2], but these often offer only part of the support people need, like basic skills, a device or a cheap connection.

As a result, it isn’t easy for digitally excluded Londoners, or those that support them, to access what they need.

The new Digital Inclusion Service pilot scheme will offer Londoners all they need to get online wherever they live. Lack of a device has been reported as one of the major contributing factors to digital exclusion and the service will target large organisations and businesses to donate unwanted phones and laptops to be refurbished for Londoners who need them.

Launching the scheme at the London Digital Inclusion conference today, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said, “every Londoner should have digital access, but the sad reality is that too many Londoners lack the skills, technology and infrastructure to get online easily, preventing them from accessing the tools they need to thrive.”

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