Our Report on Digital Skills
Published on 15 August 2023 02:28 PM
During April - August 2023, 121 older people in Redbridge completed our survey on digital skills.
The survey aimed to understand how comfortable people are with using digital technology and what areas they may need more support or training in. It also aimed to identify whether people feel digitally excluded from some services and activities and how this impacts on their daily lives.
We found that the older people are, the less likely they are, to own a digital device, or to have the skills and confidence to make the most out of them.
For example, fewer than half of respondents aged 75 – 89 (47%) own a smart-phone, this compares with 78% for those aged 65 – 74, and 100% for 50 – 64 year olds. On skills, just 39% of those aged 75 – 89 feel confident to use their smart-phone, comparing with 69% for respondents aged 50 – 64.
This sort of disadvantage, along with the rapid move to online-only services, has clearly resulted in inequality and exclusion. Services with an online access requirement have been problematic for 36% of respondents (again many of them older) and just 33% were offered an alternative access method.
We have heard accounts of staff insisting on the online method, with advice to ‘get family or friends to help’. When someone has outlined difficulties with technology, we feel that this kind of approach is inappropriate, and unreasonable. There should always be an alternative and people should always be supported. Read more in our full report.