Since the outbreak of Covid-19 the scale of digital exclusion in the UK has been exposed and exacerbated beyond previous understanding. While new initiatives have been rapidly and successfully delivered, substantially accelerating progress and ensuring thousands of individuals now have appropriate digital access, there is still much more to be done to ensure no one in the UK is left digitally excluded.
In our new report, we set out a series of 12 recommendations calling for ambitious action from policy makers, practitioners, academia and industry.
The recommendations build on our work on digital inclusion over the past decade, and particularly draw on learning and reflections from the coronavirus outbreak and lockdown period. We look forward to discussing and pursuing these recommendations with interested individuals and organisations.
You can read the report hereand follow the hashtag #12stepsfordigital on Twitter to join the conversation.
Over the past five months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Carnegie UK Trust has been undertaking a series of conversations with communities across the UK, exploring the changing relationship between local government, public services and communities.
Throughout these conversations, we’ve heard from several areas that community hubs were a critical part of the emergency response.
In many cases, these demonstrated strong leadership, creative practice and partnership working. The Trust believes that these hubs could have a longer-term role in recovery from the pandemic, joining the dots between people that require support and connecting them to a range of services to promote individual and community wellbeing.
Building on the learning from four areas, (North Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, Lancaster and Scarborough), our new report offers examples of best practice, challenges, opportunities and learning for the future. We hope that these examples will inspire change.
North Ayrshire: A case study on kindness
On the same day, we are also releasing a report that tells the story of our two-year partnership with North Ayrshire Council.
This ‘case study on kindness’ shares the activities, achievements and learning about what it takes to embed kindness across a local authority area, and finishes with five priorities that we hope will feel relevant and urgent for local government and its partner organisations everywhere.
I do hope that you find these reports helpful.
To let us know your thoughts, please email Pippa@CarnegieUK.org or join the debate online by tagging @CarnegieUKTrust #COVIDConversations – we would be pleased to hear from you.
New research shows there is broad employer support for further increases to the minimum wage, but that government must help businesses to adapt to a higher wage floor.
The report – based on a survey of over 1,000 businesses conducted at the outset of the coronavirus crisis – shows that over half (54%) support the UK government’s policy of increasing the national living wage to two-thirds of median income by 2024, with fewer than one in ten (9%) opposing this move.
The report – produced by Learning and Work Institute and Carnegie UK Trust – finds that most employers said that the increase would not have a negative impact on their business, or on wider UK employment. A majority (54%) of businesses said that a higher minimum wage could help boost UK productivity.
The report showed that there was more concern among the employers that would be most impacted by an increase in the minimum wage, and among the sectors hit hardest by coronavirus.
Over half (55%) of employers with higher levels of low pay said the planned increase in the minimum wage would have a negative impact on their business, nearly double the figure for all employers (29%). Employers in hard hit sectors such as hospitality (41%) and retail (38%) were also more likely to fear a negative impact on their business.
While half (50%) of businesses said that they would not need to do anything to respond to a higher minimum wage, some employers said they would have to make changes which could have implications for consumers and workers:
22% of businesses said they would pass the cost on to consumers;
15% would hire fewer members of staff;
10% would increase the use of temporary or flexible contracts;
10% would also reduce staff benefits such as bonuses, breaks and discounts.
Most employers believe additional government support would be necessary to help employers manage an increase in the minimum wage. The most popular measure was additional help to invest in skills and training (supported by 37% of employers) followed by a temporary reduction in national insurance contributions (33%). Just one in six (17%) said government should not provide any support to employers.
Joe Dromey, deputy director for research and development at Learning and Work Institute, said:“Increasing the minimum wage could eradicate low pay, and help to tackle in-work poverty. Our research has shown that not only is a higher minimum wage popular among workers – it is supported by most employers too.
“The government can still deliver on their commitment to increase the minimum wage. But with higher unemployment as a result of the coronavirus crisis, we need to ensure that employers are supported to adapt.”
Douglas White, Head of Advocacy at the Carnegie UK Trust, said: “That most employers support a higher minimum wage is encouraging: even before the onset of the pandemic, there were too many workers struggling on low pay.
“The economic challenges caused by COVID-19 means it is even more important that future decisions around the minimum wage are ambitious in delivering better pay for low paid workers, while recognising the real challenges that many businesses are experiencing and providing them with essential support.
“We hope the ideas put forward in our employers’ survey are a helpful starting point for a dialogue about how the government can pursue its ambition to raise the wage floor without endangering job quality or employment.’
In our next and final report in the Future of the Minimum Wage series, we will set out recommendations for how government can achieve a balance between raising the wage floor, locking in job quality and protecting employment for more workers.
We would be pleased to hear your views on the findings of the report and the future of minimum wage policy in the UK.
You can get in touch with us on Twitter @CarnegieUKTrust, using the hashtag #MinimumWage, or you can let us know your thoughts by emailing Gail Irvine, Senior Policy and Development Officer, on gail@carnegieuk.org.
Digital inequalities exist between young people in and out of care settings, but also persist between residential houses.
Young people employ a number of methods to access the internet including use of public WIFI (such as buses, fast food outlets or libraries), nearby WIFI (walking around neighbouring streets) and repurposing the available Ethernet cables for other devices.
Use of hotspots from personal devices using data can cause power imbalances within residential houses.
Enterprise grade technology is not suitable for a domestic settings.
Young people were not opposed to internet monitoring or filtering and suggested restriction measures that they feel should be implemented.
The Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership has published a new report, supported by the Carnegie UK Trust, which explores the digital experiences of looked after and accommodated young people in Glasgow. Continue reading Carnegie Trust UK: new report on Digital Resilience
A new report by Carnegie UK Trust addresses digital exclusion among vulnerable young people in our communities. The #NotWithoutMe pilot programme challenges the assumption that young people are ‘digital natives’ who have basic digital skills or access to learning opportunities.Continue reading Not Without Me: Challenging Perceptions Of The Digital Native Generation
