Connecting with Confidence: teaming up with Lloyds Bank and We Are Digital

“This project has already had a lot of impact. We've had people with children doing it to help with their homework. We've had the older members who have no access at all to the internet. I only have a phone, so this project was a godsend to me. Having a tablet and getting online properly has honestly changed so much for me and my daughters.” Gemma, TBBT Member and Volunteer

Mother of two, Gemma is one of hundreds to take part in TBBT’s Connecting with Confidence partnership with Lloyds Bank and We Are Digital which aims to tackle digital exclusion at a grassroots, community level.

TBBT works in over 100 low-income communities across the UK which all face multiple levels of deprivation including high levels of digital exclusion. For example, over a third of TBBT members only have a mobile phone to get online and almost 40% are unable to complete a basic set of online skills. As a result, there are complex barriers to digital inclusion.

And digital exclusion is very costly. Policy in Practice put the figure at £19bn of unclaimed benefits and support every year. But it’s not just a financial cost. Digital exclusion limits opportunities for jobs, education and training, compounds social isolation and impacts on health and wellbeing.

As part of its core mission to ignite long-lasting change in low income communities, TBBT finds and develop partnerships that bring in external expertise to work with our members on a 1-2-1 basis, sharing bespoke advice, practical solutions and to further chip away at the costs of poverty. For Connecting with Confidence, Lloyds Bank and We Are Digital are pivotal partners in making this happen. Lloyds Bank is one of a collation of organisations making up the Digital Inclusion Initiative which is an industry-led powerhouse driving digital skills, improving lives and economic growth. We Are Digital specialise in delivering tailored digital training to learners in businesses and communities across the UK.

Piloting the project across a 6 week period, Connecting with Confidence ran 57 training sessions in 10 TBBT hubs, with 411 people taking part. Each session was open to eight TBBT members who had been identified as digitally excluded – this included members without access to a smartphone, tablet or home computer.

The project combined three key elements: access to kit, data for connectivity and building up confidence online. Run by We Are Digital expert trainers, the sessions provided a tablet and SIM card with six months data from Vodaphone included.

The sessions covered key skills such as setting up an email address and staying safe online as well as downloading and using apps for example. Follow up support continues to be offered with access to a free advice line.

As Jane Partington, Partnerships Director of TBBT explains: “We work with people who are juggling complex lives – multiple jobs, caring responsibilities, health issues – whilst struggling on low incomes. They don’t have time or capacity to explore what the true benefits to being online are. They might use social media but they don’t access banking or pay bills online because that doesn’t feel like a priority for them.

“It also takes some confidence to sign up and go on a course, especially if it’s in a location that they don’t know. To achieve real change, you have to take digital to them which is what this project is all about.”

The Connecting with Confidence training took place at TBBT hubs and, with just eight people each session, the training could be bespoke so people didn’t feel intimidated or unable to ask questions.

Jane Partington sums up: “By investing in our members this way, we know that we’re delivering maximum impact for them and their families. They are now better equipped to access more support, shop more affordably and open up opportunities for employment, education and training and so on. This will manifest itself in really significant, tangible benefits for those individuals in the long term.”

People like Cait, whose family lives abroad so she had to use a neighbour’s phone to FaceTime them. Or Eva, whose 16-year-son was struggling to do his GCSE homework just on a phone. Or Gemma who was so worried about being scammed that she wouldn’t shop online. Or Frank who felt completely left behind since retiring, with an obsolete desktop and a landline.

TBBT’s role as the catalyst between its communities and partners – like the yeast in the baking of bread – puts TBBT in a unique position to create meaningful and lasting change for individual members and communities more widely. And it only starts with food…