END DIGITAL POVERTY

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: january/february 2024 :: RMTnews 21 Retired RMT members meeting last year in Manchester discussed a motion submitted by the London and Anglia retired members branch called on action to end digital poverty amongst older people by joining forces with the National Pensioners Convention (NPC). In an age of high-speed internet and ongoing technology when you can’t even find out what money you have in your bank account without logging onto a website, RMT representatives met with the NPC to understand what digital poverty was and how to campaign to end this unfairness. NPC’s digital working party chair Jenny Sims explained that around three million people, 30 per cent of adults over 65, do not use the internet. “As society becomes increasingly digital, they are being left behind. This group of people are finding it increasingly difficult to access information and services, often leaving them poorer and socially isolated. “The NPC’s campaign, Connections for All, was launched more than two years ago with two goals: to help more older people get online, and to ensure that those not online, for whatever reason - including choice, are not disadvantaged, or discriminated against, and are always offered alternatives to digital services. To achieve these aims, the NPC works in partnership with other organisations including the Digital Poverty Alliance (DPA), which has launched a campaign to end digital poverty by 2030, and affiliate members such as RMT,” she said. What is digital poverty? The DPA’s definition is: “The inability to interact with the online world fully, when where and how an individual needs to”. Its website says: “We believe that digital poverty and its definition needs to feature in the current agendas including social mobility and levelling up in the UK”. And it warns: “This is an urgent issue. The pandemic made us all more aware of the digital divide. Some initial progress was made in response, but we must go much further to address the determinants of digital poverty. Providing access to a device alone cannot end digital exclusion.” In collaboration with stakeholders across the public, private and third sectors, the DPA has published a National Delivery Plan, 2023 “to end digital poverty together”. One of its key messages is that digital access is a basic human right. One of the barriers to going online is the cost of broadband. Although most internet providers offer a social tariff, research shows that too few people are aware of them and the uptake is low. But many of those who do have broadband are still struggling. This was verified by a Citizens Advice survey which found that one million people cancelled their broadband subscriptions earlier this year. After producing two interim reports on their findings and conducting a survey of NPC members at the NPC’s Annual Convention in Blackpool in June, the Digital Working Party recommended the NPC campaign for “a basic internet access package available free for those over State Pension Age”. The Digital Working Party’s remit included helping to raise awareness of such reports and to signpost members to the UK-wide range of opportunities to access free digital training, devices, help, advice, and support e.g. through the social change charity, the Good Things Foundation. “The NPC welcomes the news that RMT has agreed to support the NPC’s Connection for All campaign,” said Jenny. For more information on the Connections for All campaign and how to become a RMT Retired Activist, please contact the RMT Pensions Officer, Paul Norris, at p.norris@rmt.org.uk or on 020 7529 8806. END DIGITAL POVERTY RMT retired members call for action to tackle older people left behind by digital technology