Digital poverty in the UK: analysis of secondary data

This report presents findings of digital poverty in the UK by analysing two datasets from each of two sources:
- First, two OFCOM surveys, each of over 3,000 respondents1;
- Second, two Labour Force Survey (LFS) datasets from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), before and during the Covid-19 pandemic (Covid), each of over 68,000 respondents2.
Results confirm the association of digital poverty with deprivation3. Various factors are identified to be associated with digital poverty in the UK such as (1) age, (2) lack of confidence in reading and writing, (3) lower socio-economic classification, (4) disability, (5) lower housing tenure, (6) lack of qualifications, (7) more than one person in household, (8) urban rather than rural, and (9) ethnic minority. Lack of reading and writing was a major predictor of digital poverty among young people aged 16-24. Another important finding is a lack of motivation for having the Internet4. Comparing data between during and before Covid, the results indicate that Covid disproportionately affected more disadvantaged groups in that those of lower socio-economic classification (SEC) and disabled suffered more digital poverty during Covid than before.
A range of moderators were tested in order to examine the effect of each on the association between the variety of factors above and digital poverty:
- lack of qualifications is associated with digital poverty more in the North than in the South of the UK;
- age is much more strongly associated with digital poverty for those living in rented accommodation rather than owned;
- lack of qualifications is more strongly associated with digital poverty for rural rather than urban residents;
- age is more strongly associated with digital poverty for females than males;
- for ethnic minorities, disability is much more strongly associated with digital poverty than for the white majority.
Digital poverty has an impact on productivity that is even greater during than before Covid, and people in digital poverty tend to be in lower-paid jobs both during and before Covid. The findings reveal that people in London, Southeast and Southwest regions are suffering less from digital poverty than the rest of the UK. The main challenges associated with tackling digital poverty are discussed followed by our recommendations to overcome those issues.