Beyond the Basics: Why Digital Inclusion Has an Ambition Problem
Digital inclusion matters. Getting people online, helping them access services, giving them a device — all vital. I don't question that for a second.
But I do question what happens next.
Much of the funded digital inclusion work I see follows the same playbook: target the easiest-to-reach group — people with zero digital skills — tick the output boxes, and call it a win. Devices distributed. Accounts created. One attendee registered with a recruitment agency and landed a temporary warehouse job. Gold medal. Funding renewed.
Nobody's asking what happens in year two.
There's also something uncomfortable about the content of that "inclusion." Often the first thing digital inclusion support workers do is help new users install is an NHS app built on Palantir infrastructure. We're plugging people into the matrix and calling it empowerment.
The thing that's actually missing
What's been decimated since 2008 isn't access to devices. It's adult education.
I know this first hand. I retrained into IT at 36. Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings at Hopwood Hall College, studying for my Computer Maintenance qualifications alongside people of all ages who were rebuilding their working lives. That provision is largely gone now — killed quietly by austerity, with barely a murmur.
The organisations doing digital inclusion work aren't wrong to help people access services. But they're missing the bigger prize: lifelong learning, genuine retraining, and a progressive attitude to skills development that follows people through their careers — not just into their first Universal Credit account.
What would actually help
The infrastructure for affordable retraining exists — it's just fragmented and nobody joins the dots:
- Skills Bootcamps — free, 16 weeks, DfE-funded, employer-linked
- OpenLearn — the Open University's free platform, genuinely rigorous
- CompTIA self-study — A+, Network+, Security+ are still the industry entry ticket
- Cisco NetAcad, Microsoft Learn, Google Digital Garage — free, certifiable
- freeCodeCamp / The Odin Project — web development, completely free
What's missing is the wrap-around: accessible venues, evening and weekend delivery, peer support, and progression pathways. The old Hopwood Hall Adult Learning model, essentially.
A thought about Rochdale
Rochdale town centre has empty premises in prime locations. Rents in Manchester are exorbitant. Shoreditch — now synonymous with tech — was in a similar state of decline before cheap rents and a bit of council vision transformed it into Silicon Roundabout. The Northern Quarter happened the same way.
Could that happen here? The Atom Valley Digital Corridor is already a stated priority for Greater Manchester. The skills pipeline to feed it could — and should — be built locally. Subsidised space for digital businesses and training providers. A genuine tech and creative quarter. A reason for talent to stay rather than commute south.
I'm 25 years into a career that started with an evening class. Someone has to make the case for the next generation of evening classes.
I'm making it.