Elizabeth Anderson: Why Ending Digital Poverty Must Be a National Priority
With up to one in three UK adults experiencing some form of digital poverty, the digital divide remains one of the country’s most overlooked but urgent challenges. In this interview, Elizabeth Anderson, CEO of the Digital Poverty Alliance, shares how the organisation is working to close that gap through strategic partnerships, national policy alignment, and grassroots action.
As End Digital Poverty Day returns on 12 September, Elizabeth reflects on the progress made over the past year, the scale of the challenge ahead, and why solving digital exclusion is not just a social imperative, but a business-critical issue for the technology sector. From device donations to inclusive design, she outlines the tangible ways individuals, businesses, and policymakers can work together to end digital poverty by 2030.
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What is End Digital Poverty Day, and why is it such a significant moment in the calendar for the Digital Poverty Alliance?
End Digital Poverty Day, held annually on 12 September, is our flagship moment to unite organisations, communities and businesses in tackling the digital divide. It’s not just symbolic; it drives practical action through events, skills workshops, device donations and policy discussions nationwide.
End Digital Poverty Day is about alignment, action and accountability; bringing the sector together, amplifying local leadership and holding ourselves to delivering visible, measurable progress. It’s a chance to spotlight what works, build momentum and show that ending digital poverty by 2030 is both urgent and achievable.
How do you define digital poverty, and why do you believe it remains an overlooked challenge in the UK?
At the Digital Poverty Alliance, we define digital poverty as ‘the inability to interact with the online world fully, when, where and how an individual needs to’. It goes beyond just lacking the right type of device or connection, encompassing digital skills, confidence and meaningful access.
Alarmingly, up to 19 million people in the UK are currently experiencing some form of digital poverty, around a third of adults. Yet despite digitalisation affecting education, healthcare, employment and more, it remains persistently overlooked because it spans multiple sectors and has complex causes, making this systemic issue easy to ignore.
What progress have you seen since last year’s End Digital Poverty Day, and what milestones are you particularly proud of?
Since last year’s End Digital Poverty Day, we’ve seen real, tangible momentum across policy, delivery and local action. Earlier this year, we launched our National Delivery and Advocacy Plan, a living framework of six missions driving systemic, measurable progress in digital inclusion.
The UK Government’s Digital Inclusion Action Plan, released in February, introduced for the first time in over a decade a national strategy that promises to partner with the DPA to pilot a multi-department device donation scheme, recycling government laptops to support households most in need.
At local levels, our Tech4Families and Tech4Communities models continue to show impact in places across the UK and, taken together, these developments illustrate both the scale and reach of our progress from shaping national policy to investing in local delivery networks.
The UK is often seen as a highly connected nation. What do people often misunderstand about the reality of digital exclusion?
It is true that the UK is one of the most digitally advanced economies, and yet this only masks the fact that a third of adults in the UK live in digital poverty. The biggest misunderstanding lies in the conception that digital exclusion only concerns not having a device or not having an internet connection.
In reality, digital exclusion spans affordability, skills, confidence and the support to engage safely and meaningfully online. Owning a smartphone doesn’t qualify someone as fully digitally included. Try filling out a job application, accessing benefits, making a GP appointment or supporting a child’s education from a small screen.
Even with the right devices, it’s crucial that people have the skills, confidence and awareness of how to stay safe online to truly be digitally included but digital exclusion continues to be hidden in plain sight, cutting people off from the opportunities many of us take for granted.
What are some of the biggest barriers individuals and families face when trying to access the digital world? Is it primarily devices, connectivity, skills or something else?
Digital poverty is rarely caused by a single factor but is usually a combination of factors that compound disadvantage. For some, the barrier is affordability of devices and data. For others, it’s a lack of skills, confidence or support to use technology effectively. We also see challenges with reliability and quality of access, for example, families trying to share one device between several children or individuals forced onto pay-as-you-go data that quickly becomes unaffordable.
Crucially, digital exclusion often overlaps with other forms of inequality, whether that’s low income, housing insecurity, disability or caring responsibilities. That’s why our approach is holistic, tackling devices connectivity, skills and support together, rather than treating them in isolation.
With technology evolving so quickly, how do we prevent the digital divide from widening further?
The pace of technological change is both exciting and challenging. AI, digital healthcare, online learning and smart devices can transform lives, but only if everyone has access to them. Stopping the divide widening means building long-term, sustainable solutions rather than quick fixes.
That includes making sure affordable access to devices and data is seen as a basic utility, embedding digital skills and confidence, building into education and lifelong learning and designing public services that are inclusive by default.
Crucially, it also requires coordinated action. Government, industry and civil society working together through frameworks like our National Delivery and Advocacy Plan outlines is essential to closing the divide, so not one if left behind as technology moves forward.
How can technology companies and industry leaders contribute meaningfully beyond corporate social responsibility campaigns?
Technology companies have a huge role to play in tackling digital exclusion, not just through CSR but by embedding digital inclusion into their core business models and strategies. That means designing products and services that are affordable, accessible and inclusive by default. It also means leveraging their unique assets, whether that’s donating and repurposing devices, investing in community training programmes, or partnering on larger-scale initiatives.
Industry leaders can also use their influence to advocate for systemic change, helping set standards and shaping policies. True impact comes when inclusion isn’t treated as a side project, but an integral part of how technology companies operate and succeed.
The Government’s Digital Inclusion Action Plan, launched in February, and the DPA’s National Delivery and Advocacy Plan both aim to see digital poverty resolved by 2030. What are the priorities, and how is progress being measured?
Both plans share the same ambition: to end digital poverty. The Government’s Digital Inclusion Action Plan is an important step forward with short term goals, including partnering with the DPA to pilot a multi-department device donation scheme using repurposed government laptops. A longer term strategy is being developed, including with their new Digital Inclusion Action Committee, of which I’m proud to be part. The DPA’s National Delivery and Advocacy Plan complements this by setting out six missions, covering affordable access, devices, skills, accessibility, confidence and local-capacity building, with clear actions and responsibilities across sectors.
Progress is being measured through a framework of milestones and indicators, from the number of devices redistributed and people trained, to shifts in affordability and confidence levels. Just as importantly, we’re working to ensure communities themselves can feed back on what’s working and where gaps remain.
By aligning national policy with on-the-ground delivery and regular monitoring, we can track tangible progress towards closing the digital divide.
How can individuals, schools or businesses get involved in the mission to end digital poverty?
Everyone has a role to play in ending digital poverty. For individuals, it could mean supporting community initiatives, donating unused devices or volunteering digital skills. 24% of households with internet don’t have a device to allow them to get online and with 55 million phones lying unused in drawers across Britain, donating unused devices could have a huge positive impact to close the divide.
Schools can champion digital inclusion by identifying pupils who may be struggling and partnering with us on schemes like Tech4Families or Tech4YoungCarers. Across the UK, 26% of young people lack access to a laptop or similar device to get online, 67% of whom report their lack of a device or reliable internet as having a hugely detrimental impact on their studies.
Businesses can go further by repurposing devices, supporting staff digital upskilling and donating unused devices to DPA device donation schemes to encourage a circular economy. Ending digital poverty requires collective effort at every level and anyone who would like to get involved can find more information by visiting the Digital Poverty Alliance website.
For businesses that want to make a longer-term impact, this is about reframing strategic goals to put digital inclusion at the heart of their work.
Many Techerati readers are tech professionals and enterprise leaders. How can the technology sector leverage its infrastructure, innovation and partnerships to make a measurable impact on digital poverty, rather than leaving the challenge solely to government or charities?
The technology sector has unique strengths that go far beyond philanthropy; it can help reshape systems that create and sustain digital poverty. First, by embedding inclusion into product design and service delivery, ensuring affordability, accessibility and usability are standard, not add-ons.
Second, by leveraging infrastructure and innovation, e.g. repurposing supply chains to support large-scale device donation schemes, investing in affordable connectivity or using data insights to target need more effectively.
Third, through partnerships: working with government, schools and community organisations to align industry capabilities with real-world gaps.
When tech leaders treat digital inclusion as core to long-term growth with social impact, not just CSR, the sector can deliver measurable change and help close the digital divide.
What risks do you foresee impacting the technology sector if digital poverty isn’t addressed, and how might this limit the sector’s ability to scale responsibly and inclusively?
If digital poverty persists in the same way, the technology sector risks deepening inequality and losing public trust. Innovation only scales successfully when it reaches everyone, yet if millions remain excluded, new products and services will entrench divides rather than close them.
This is a missed commercial opportunity as much as it is an opportunity for inclusion; markets shrink when whole communities can’t participate fully in the digital economy. This comes with regulatory and reputational risks. If digital exclusion prevents fair access to education, healthcare or work, the sector will face mounting pressure to act.
To scale responsibly and inclusively, technology must be built on the foundation of universal access and skills. Without that, growth will remain uneven and its social license to operate will be questioned.
Digital poverty is often framed as a social issue, but it’s also a barrier to innovation and talent. What role can CIOs, CTOs and IT leaders play in embedding digital inclusion into their strategies?
CIOs, CTOs and IT leaders are uniquely positioned to make digital inclusion part of their organisation’s DNA. That starts with workforce strategies, supporting employees with access to devices, affordable connectivity and digital upskilling so no one is left behind. It extends to talent pipelines, where partnerships with schools, colleges and community groups can help widen access to the next generation of digital professionals.
Importantly, these leaders can also ensure that products and services are designed inclusively, considering affordability and accessibility from the outset. By embedding digital inclusion into both internal culture and external delivery, IT leaders not only strengthen their organisations but also expand the pool of innovation and the talent the sector depends on.
