9th October 2024
We started working with Barnet Council in 2021. With nearly 400,000 residents, it’s a place where lots of households struggle to overcome multiple barriers to digital inclusion.
Fay Morris is the Digital Inclusion Lead at Barnet Homes (which co-ordinates the council’s digital inclusion activity). She says “ It’s a big borough and there’s a lot of work to do. There are a lot of challenges and we need to work together across multiple sectors to tackle them successfully.''
Broadly, Fay’s work has two main approaches:
- Get data, devices and skills to the people who need them.
- Join-up and support organisations to make a difference.
1. Get data, devices and skills to the people who need them
Skills
Barnet has around 40 Digital Champions. They are based in a variety of organisations and places - the crucial point is that they are embedded in the community.
“They’re spread across the borough, in places like Age UK, Mencap, in our libraries and our community. They might be in voluntary organisations, some small grass roots organisations, different cultural community organisations. I try to embed digital inclusion into the organisation.
"Some organisations hope for a quick solution and that we can come in, run a few short courses and solve any digital skills problems quickly and completely. But it takes a long time for people to get confident and any solution needs to be long term and based within the organisations themselves."
Fay has a thorough recruitment and onboarding process that brings Digital Champions in, gives them all the training they need (including our very own DCN), provides them with collateral and on-going resources and support. She makes a point of meeting Digital Champions and bringing them together for regular meet-ups and training so everyone is involved and included.
Devices
Barnet has multiple ways to get devices to those that need them. They collect unwanted tech in libraries across the borough; they take equipment donations from major employers (including Barnet Council) and work in partnership on a refurbishment programme with 2econd Chance – if you haven’t come across them before here's a great film about who they are and what they do. As they’re funded by central government, Barnet can also access schemes that allow them to buy laptops and tablets at subsidised rates.
Some of these are distributed by community groups or via Digital Champions training schemes. Others are sold to residents at affordable prices (around £10-£20 for a refurbished tablet). "There are sectors of the community who are working but still struggling and it allows those residents to access affordable tech.”
Data
Barnet gives away SIM cards, via the Good Things Foundation scheme. It also offers Community Fibre broadband to vulnerable residents. The scheme is designed to help anyone who needs it, so for example all older residents or those on universal credit are eligible. You can find more about it, see if you're eligible and apply for it here.
Take-up has been steady but slow. People can often be sceptical about the schemes - Fay mentioned one resident who thought it was a scam as "it seemed too good to be true". Barnet target potential residents directly via letter and promote the scheme via their Digital Skills workshops.
Take-up seems to be a common problem councils face when trying to get residents on board with broadband schemes/ social tariffs and it's a complicated area. Barnet are part of the West London Alliance partnership, and we worked with them to create a course to help staff help residents navigate this complicated world. You can do the affordable internet course here for free.
2.Join-up and support organisations to make a difference
Networking Community groups
Barnet Get Online brings together around 80 local community organisations once a month to discuss anything and everything digital inclusion, from running pilots to finding funding and using AI.
It helps organisations to get their heads round digital inclusion, support each other and find out about opportunities. Helping them understand how they can help with the limited resources they have has been crucial, as one of the challenges for all community organisations is funding and therefore capacity. “They know it’s important to put resource behind this, but that in itself can be a challenge. These voluntary groups do an amazing job supporting the most vulnerable, but digital inclusion can't always be their top priority."
Working with partners
Barnet are looking at who else they can work with. For example, they're currently running pilots with Primary Care Networks looking at supporting patients with long-term prescriptions who aren’t using online tools to re-order and seeing how they can be helped to do so. Other initiatives Fay is exploring include working closely with food banks and helping community organisations build their own internal digital skills.
Barnet are also signatories of the Digital Poverty Alliance's charter. This underpins their commitment to inclusion across the organisation and helps them collaborate with other organisations who are part of the forum, and to work with others to make improvements. There's a lot going in on Barnet to tackle these complicated digital inclusion issues.
It’s great to see all this activity and see more organisations coming on board!
Fay Morris
Digital Inclusion Lead
If you're in the area and interested in any of these issues, or you're interested in becoming a Digital Champion do get in touch with her via Get Online Barnet.
