Partner profile: Leeds Community Health and Wellbeing Service

100% Digital Leeds is supporting homecare providers Be Caring and Springfield Healthcare to embed digital inclusion into their offer as part of the new Leeds Community Health and Wellbeing Service. The 18 month pilot service aims to support over 200 clients across West Leeds in their own homes, providing a person centred approach to care and allowing staff increased capacity to engage clients with meaningful activities, including support with digital.

100% Digital Leeds was asked to support both organisations to further understand the role that they could play in supporting digital inclusion to benefit both the service and the clients.  As a result, homecare workers are better equipped to support service users to be more digitally included.

Be Caring

Be Caring is the UK’s largest employee-owned provider of social care services in the home. Based in South Leeds, their range of services covers everything from traditional domiciliary care to supporting more complex needs like dementia, learning disabilities, palliative care and reablement. Be Caring partnered with 100% Digital Leeds in 2023 to engage with the Arts in Care Digital Programme to see how they could better support the wellbeing of their service users using digital and have maintained contact with the team to explore other digital inclusion opportunities.

Springfield Healthcare

Springfield Healthcare has over 800 staff supporting clients in their own homes, in the community, and in their care homes across the north. 100% Digital Leeds has been in frequent contact with the organisation as examples of best practice, learning from their staff about how they support their clients with digital, and the innovative approaches they take with digital activities. They run a monthly ‘virtual cruise’ event for residents where they use digital technology such as YouTube, Google Earth and their large screen tablets to animate the event and make it more fun and interactive for residents to engage with. The team recently shared their virtual cruise idea with #CovConnects who have run a pilot session with their partners, which has been well received.  

Taking a person centred approach to care

The Community Health and Wellbeing Service is being piloted across Bramley, Stanningley, Armley, Farnley and Wortley over an 18 month period, aiming to provide a more flexible and person centred service for around 200 clients in receipt of care by using ‘neighbourhood teams’ of health and care staff. The new streamlined service will allow Be Caring and Springfield Healthcare to build small local teams, providing service users with a greater consistency of social care workers that undertake their care on a regular basis, as well as improving family and community connections.

“Working in small teams, care workers will be able to get to know their neighbourhoods and work in partnership with a range of services to help individuals access support and activities in their community. It’s a much more flexible approach and we’re very proud of the work that has gone into the service’s design, as it’s been a real joint effort with those who experience home care as well as unpaid carers, providers and care staff.”

Councillor Salma Arif, executive member for Adult Social Care, Active Lifestyles and Culture.

One way in which the new service will allow for more person centred care is that the care workers will be paid on a shift or block pay model, rather than separate home visits, providing the capacity to work flexibly and deliver individualised care, including support outside the home.

Any downtime in their rota can be used for the benefit of the client, including supporting the client’s digital inclusion goals. This may involve sitting with them to assist them with getting online, visiting their local Neighbourhood Network to find out what digital support activities they offer, finding out about cheap broadband tariffs, or supporting them with SIM cards with free 4G data, gifted via Good Things Foundation’s National Databank.

“This is an innovative new service that pays care workers for their whole shift and offers them a rewarding job that makes best use of the knowledge and relationship they have with the people they support and their family carers. The service treats care workers as the true professionals they are with a great training offer and career development opportunities”.

Cath Roff, Project Director, Adult Social Care Transformation, Leeds City Council

Support from 100% Digital Leeds to embed digital inclusion within the offer

Be Caring and Springfield Healthcare approached 100% Digital Leeds to help them to embed digital inclusion within the Community Health and Wellbeing Service. Paying staff on a shift or block pay model has resulted in staff having increased capacity to support clients with their specific goals and outcomes, including supporting with digital skills, motivation, and confidence. Staff have more time to have positive digital conversations with clients, explore their barriers to digital, and help them to engage with digital tools and technology in a way that is meaningful.

100% Digital Leeds delivered a digital inclusion awareness workshop to staff from both organisations. The session provided an overview of what digital inclusion means, including discussing the four main barriers to digital inclusion and how these can be exacerbated by other factors including poverty, long term health conditions and language barriers. The attendees then discussed their different job roles within their organisations and how they could support digital inclusion within their specific remits.

This was followed by a discussion about the resources that 100% Digital Leeds can provide, including the Leeds Community Digital Support Directory and the Digital Inclusion Delivery Resources Google Drive, and how they might support their client’s with their individual goals and motivators. The session also touched upon local and national partners working in digital inclusion that could offer support to clients including Carers Leeds and AbilityNet, depending on the client’s individual needs and circumstances.

The session ended with an activity using iPads borrowed from Leeds Libraries, showcasing some of the games and apps that can be used to support a person’s first steps with digital. The games and apps are a familiar and safe way to motivate someone who is reluctant to see digital as something that they might want to engage with. As the carer is a trusted person, they are well placed to provide support and encouragement with digital, modelling positive digital behaviours and suggesting digital activities that are appropriate and meaningful to their clients.

Next Steps

100% Digital Leeds will continue to work with Be Caring and Springfield Healthcare on the Community Health and Wellbeing Service pilot to fully understand what digital inclusion support is needed by both staff and clients, and how digital inclusion can be used as an enabler to support clients with their goals and outcomes in a person-centred way. The team will meet with staff in Care Assessor and Champion roles to further assess digital inclusion support needs, and to share resources and best practice.

Partner profile: Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust

100% Digital Leeds has partnered with Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust (LCH) since 2020. The partnership began with 100% Digital Leeds working with individual LCH services to support the implementation of specific digital health tools, or to embed digital inclusion within discrete projects. This includes supporting patient uptake of digital tools to support the self-management of long-term conditions such as COPD and diabetes. The partnership has continued to develop, seeing 100% Digital Leeds supporting LCH to embed digital inclusion into the trust’s soon to be published Digital, Data and ​Technology Strategy, ensuring digital inclusion is considered across the whole Trust.

Most recently 100% Digital Leeds is working with LCH to ensure the trust’s 3,500 staff are aware of the potential impact of digital exclusion, can easily identify digitally excluded patients, and can sign-post people to the right community support. To support this 100% Digital Leeds has worked with LCH to coproduce Digital Inclusion Awareness training. LCH has also implemented Electronic Patient Record (EPR) screening questions, supporting staff to have conversations with patients and service users around their digital inclusion needs and sign-posting them to support in the community. In this way LCH ensure that patient digital inclusion needs are identified and addressed as standard practice.

Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust

Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust was formed in 2011 to provide community healthcare services for the people of Leeds. The trust delivers services in or close to people’s homes and works with the whole family. Their 3,500 strong workforce includes nurses, therapists, pharmacists, non-registered and registered clinical staff, supported by their corporate services. LCH works closely with the other trusts that make up the NHS in Leeds, recognising that patients will move between services and trusts depending on their health needs.

Services include:

  • Primary Care, offering GP services.
  • Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust, the city’s hospitals.
  • Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, the main provider of specialist mental health and learning disability services in Leeds.

LCH is keen to support digital inclusion for the benefit of patient’s health and wellbeing in the long term, regardless of the service they currently access.

Working with LCH to embed digital inclusion into specific projects

100% Digital Leeds has partnered with many LCH services to embed digital inclusion into discrete projects. Examples include working with the Cardiac team to support the rollout of Airmid enabling patients to remotely submit blood pressure readings, working with the Weight Management team to support uptake of nutrition and fitness apps, and the rollout of AccuRX to support virtual consultations during the pandemic.

Further examples of project-based partnership work include:

Increasing the uptake of the MyCOPD app

myCOPD is a self-management app with integrated online education, symptom reporting, and pulmonary rehabilitation system, support people living with COPD to manage their condition. The app is issued free of charge through Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust, Leeds Chest Clinic and Primary Care, funded by NHS England. 100% Digital Leeds worked with LCH to embed digital inclusion awareness into the app’s rollout. Clinicians and Breathe Easy groups were trained in digital inclusion awareness, addressing digital inclusion needs alongside the issue of the app, supporting increased uptake.

Supporting digital inclusion provision to be embedded within the Enhance Programme

The Enhance Programme is a partnership between Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust, Leeds Older Peoples Forum, and 13 third sector delivery partners. The programme supports safe and sustainable discharge from hospital and neighbourhood teams into a secure home environment, providing person-centred holistic support at home for people receiving community-based healthcare. When the programme was launched 100% Digital Leeds facilitated digital inclusion awareness workshops with the third sector partners, supporting them to build digital inclusion provision into programme delivery.

Embedding digital inclusion within Student Nurse Programme

100% Digital Leeds partnered with LCH’s Senior Practice Learning Facilitator to include a digital inclusion strand within the Leeds Primary Care Leadership Placement. 100% Digital Leeds delivered a digital inclusion training package to the student nurses, providing them with greater insight and understanding of digital inclusion, tools they could use to explore barriers and challenges, and resources to support them to signpost service users who identify they would like help to become more digitally included. For the remainder of the placement, the students led on NHS Health Check Clinics in general practice settings and spent time in a community setting, building relationships with a diverse population group, enabling them to have meaningful conversations about digital health.

Baby Bubble Leeds

100% Digital Leeds partnered with LCH’s 0-19 Public Health Integrated Nursing Service to support the development of Baby Bubble Leeds, an initiative to access support and information from health professionals using closed, moderated Facebook groups. 100% Digital Leeds worked with LCH to ensure that the project is as inclusive as possible, recognising that, whilst the women the project is aimed at may find it useful to engage with health services digitally, they are also likely to face some barriers to engaging with digital.

Embedding digital inclusion across the organisation

The success of the partnership between 100% Digital Leeds and LCH in addressing digital exclusion for improved health outcomes was a key factor in LCH continuing to partner with 100% Digital Leeds, going on to embed digital inclusion into their service at a strategic level. 100% Digital Leeds is helping to embed digital inclusion within LCH’s strategy and working with LCH’s business units to determine the best approach for each team in relation to digital inclusion. 

The strategy is yet to be published but the key objectives are to:

  • Provide the best possible care in every community ​
  • Keep people well at home ​
  • Provide choice to patients and service users​
  • Support out of hospital care​
  • Support people to maintain their independence ​
  • Promote self- management

Digital inclusion is integral to enabling the strategy’s objectives:

“As a Trust we have a vision to use digital technologies at the heart of our service delivery model to improve access to care and ensure our services and staff are as efficient as they can be. In order to do this effectively, we need to bring our patients and service users along the journey with us.  We want to co-design all future digital solutions with patients and service users to ensure we get this right from the outset. We are very mindful that there will be people who aren’t able to use digital and we want to support them, through partnership working with 100% Digital Leeds, to access the most appropriate support.” 

Dawn Greaves, Associate Director of Digital Transformation, Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust.

Digital inclusion screening questions

LCH has introduced digital inclusion screening questions, supporting clinicians to have conversations with patients and service users around digital inclusion. Once the support needs have been established clinicians can directly link into 100% Digital Leeds’s Community Support Directory and ensure the right support is offered to each patient.

“We must make sure that our offers are digitally inclusive and accessible to everyone who wishes to access them. To achieve this, we have to ensure we routinely ask our patients and service users about their digital literacy skills and digital inclusion support needs. By starting a positive conversation about digital we can understand the needs of the patient and ensure that the information we direct them to is accessible for them. We may send them links via SystmOne, direct them to Patient Information Hub, or recommend the NHS app, but we need to make sure that they’re able to access and use those resources.”

Amanda Jackson, 0-19 PHINS Clinical Team Manager & Baby Bubble Leeds Lead, Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust.

The template will be used across the trust’s business units and services. The patients will be asked the questions both as part of an initial assessment and again at regular intervals, recognising that a patient’s situation and digital inclusion needs can change over time.

Guiding staff to have positive digital conversations with patients

The questions revolve around three topics:

  1. Which of these can you do via digital methods?
  2. If you don’t currently use digital options, why not?
  3. What would help you to use digital options?

The template is designed as a questionnaire with set multiple choice answers, but the questions are intended to be used as conversational prompts, guiding staff to provide the right information and resource for the patient. During this conversation staff are expected to highlight the potential benefits of the patient engaging with digital tools and services relevant to their needs, supporting patient motivation.

Embedded within SystmOne, for ease of staff

Both the ‘Digital Ability and Access to Digital Devices’ template and the links to community sign-posting information are embedded within LCH’s Electronic Patient Record, SystmOne. Once staff have established the patient’s needs, they can click straight through to the 100% Digital Leeds Community Support Directory or the AbilityNet referral form, or a link to the LCH intranet with further information about accessible information and digital inclusion. Embedding both the screening questions and support information within the trust’s key systems makes the process as simple as possible for staff.

Considering digital inclusion alongside wider communication needs

The template is sat within the wider ‘Communication Needs’ screening section on SystmOne, encouraging staff to consider digital inclusion alongside wider accessibility needs. Accessibility needs such as whether the patient is visually impaired, has English as an additional language, or has learning disabilities, are considered when identifying the right community digital inclusion support to signpost to.

Digital inclusion awareness training

LCH aims for all staff to have an understanding of both digital exclusion as issue, and their role in supporting digital inclusion. Since the trust has a workforce of 3500, with different teams and roles requiring different levels of understanding around digital inclusion, LCH and 100% Digital Leeds have worked together to develop a stepped approach. A short training video has been coproduced to give all staff across the organisation a basic understanding of digital inclusion. After watching the video staff are asked to reflect on the impact of digital exclusion in their service area. Where staff feel their team support patient cohorts where digital exclusion is particularly prevalent or complex, or where patient uptake of particular digital tools is essential, such as with long term condition-specific self-management apps, staff are offered a more in-depth digital inclusion workshop.

Digital inclusion awareness training video

100% Digital Leeds and LCH coproduced a 30 minute digital inclusion awareness training video. The training is designed to give all LCH staff a basic understanding of the potential scale and impact of digital exclusion, and their role in supporting patient inclusion. It gives staff the knowledge and tools needed to gain a deeper understand the patient’s needs, enabling them to signpost people to the right support.

The training video introduces staff to:

  • The potential scale of digital exclusion across the city.
  • The potential impact of digital inclusion on patients, exacerbating existing health inequalities.
  • How to have a person-centred, motivational conversation around digital.
  • How to identify a potentially digitally excluded patient.
  • The range of digital inclusion support available in Leeds.
  • How to signpost potentially digitally excluded patients to relevant community support, taking into account the patient’s holistic needs.
  • Further support available from 100% Digital Leeds, where teams support patient cohorts where digital exclusion is particularly prevalent or complex.

The training video is introduced by a member of LCH staff, positioning digital inclusion as an enabler to the trust’s Digital, Data and Technology Strategy. The final section of the training sees the member of LCH staff introduce the new digital inclusion screening template, ensuring staff understand how the training will be practically applied going forward.

Whilst the training video has only recently been launched, initial staff feedback has been positive:

“This was an education indeed! I was pleased to see how much support there is available on the Community Support Directory, especially seeing the scale of potential digital exclusion in Leeds.”

Member of Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust staff.

Team specific digital inclusion awareness workshops

Where staff feel their team support patient cohorts where digital exclusion is particularly prevalent or complex, or where patient uptake of particular digital tools is essential, such as with long term condition-specific self-management apps, staff are offered a more in-depth digital inclusion workshop.

The workshops are an opportunity for 100% Digital Leeds to work more closely with a particular team, to further understand the barriers to digital inclusion faced by particular patient cohorts, and how the team can offer further digital inclusion support. This may involve LCH teams working more closely with community organisations offering support tailored to meet the needs of a particular community of interest facing existing health inequalities, such as people experiencing homelessness, refugees and asylum seekers, or people from areas of economic deprivation.

The workshop gives staff the understanding and tools needed to play a more active role in supporting patient digital inclusion. This may include having a deeper understanding of how to support patients with low digital motivation, offering more in-depth skills support to support uptake of a particular digital tool such as a condition specific self-management app, or gift patients’ digital equipment and 4G data sims via the National Databank.

Securing organisational buy in at all levels

As a huge service with over 70 service areas and 3500 staff, LCH has taken the time to engage staff at different levels, setting digital inclusion in the context of strategy, and securing buy-in. The strategic approach to digital inclusion was launched at the trust’s Leaders Network, a forum chaired by the trust’s Chief Executive, with attendance from across the leadership team.

They coincided this with an update on the new Digital, Data and Technology Strategy, clearly aligning digital inclusion as essential to the realisation of the strategy’s objectives and priorities. They have rolled digital inclusion messaging into service readiness for current digital projects such as Digital Letters and Patient Information Hub, making the most of existing engagement opportunities with service areas.

The work has been led by a member of staff with experience and expertise in both digital transformation and clinical practice, and shaped by the service’s existing Staff Digital Champions Network.

Led by a member of staff with experience of both digital transformation and clinical practice

The work has been led by Amanda Jackson, a Nurse and Health Visitor by background, working for LCH’s 0-19 Public Health Integrated Nursing Service as a Clinical Team Manager. Amanda has recently completed a Florence Nightingale Fellowship that had an entirely digital focus. As a result, Amanda has been spending time working alongside the LCH Digital Patient Communications Team and shares her clinical nursing knowledge. This breadth of experience makes Amanda, and her colleagues well placed to help shape the organisation’s Patient Engagement and Digital Inclusion agendas, sharing insights from a range of perspectives.

Staff Digital Champions Network

LCH’s Digital Champion Network is a trust-wide network formed in 2021, including over 40 LCH staff ranging from senior strategic roles to frontline clinicians. The network brings staff together to share thoughts around digital transformation and equip each other with new digital skills.

The network is led by the LCH Digital Innovation lead who works across the service to spot any opportunities where digital innovation can help drive improvements in care quality. 100% Digital Leeds delivered a digital inclusion awareness workshop for network members, supporting staff to reflect on where digital exclusion may impact on the success of newly introduced digital solutions.

Attending the network also supported 100% Digital Leeds to have a greater understanding of other potential barriers to successful digital innovation, such as where staff may lack the digital skills and confidence to embrace digital change, or where internal factors such as a lack of capacity or poor digital infrastructure may need to be considered. The insight of the network has been an important factor in ensuring the success of trust-wide digital inclusion interventions.

“We’ve also taken the digital inclusion training and screening questions to the Staff Digital Champions Network so they can feed in their thoughts and encourage their service areas to engage. I’m getting feedback from the Digital Champions and, where teams are now using the digital inclusion screening questions as routine, they say it’s usually a one-minute conversation. It’s not adding to their day, and that’s what I keep saying to the wider LCH staff teams. In other cases, it might be a little bit of a longer conversation, but where it is longer, that conversation is much needed, and saves staff time in the long run.”

Amanda Jackson, 0-19 PHINS Clinical Team Manager & Baby Bubble Leeds Lead, Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust.

Next steps

100% Digital Leeds and LCH continue to work together to embed digital inclusion awareness and support within clinical practice and the healthcare system. The roll-out of digital inclusion training is ongoing. 100% Digital Leeds continue to work with individual teams where digital exclusion is particularly prevalent or impactful, to co-design bespoke digital inclusion interventions.

eVisas

UK Visas and Immigration are developing a digital immigration system known as an eVisa. This means that the government are replacing physical Biometric Residency Permit documents with an online record of immigration status.

The documents being replaced are:

  • Biometric Residence Permit (BRP)
  • Biometric Residence Card (BRC)
  • Passport endorsements, such as indefinite leave to enter
  • Vignette stickers in passports, such as entry clearance or visa vignettes

An eVisa will be needed to access a range of public services, such as funding for childcare, benefits applications, and housing and employment services. People you work with may not know about this change if they do not have an email account or don’t regularly check their emails.

Everyone who has a right to remain in the UK who doesn’t have British or Irish Citizenship, needs to register for an eVisa online before 31 December 2024. To do this, people will need access to the internet to create a UKVI account, and then download and use the UK immigration ID check app. 

Please note that people who have come to the UK under the EU Settlement Scheme should already have an eVisa and do not need to apply again.

More information from the Home Office includes how to set up an online eVisa account, which people will need in order to access their information. There is also more information on the Leeds Migration Partnership website and the Right to Remain website. If your organisation would like to support eVisa applications for your clients or members, please contact the 100% Digital Leeds team and we can discuss any digital inclusion support you may need. 

Leeds Refugee Forum: eVisa support session for volunteers, community leaders and staff

18 November, 1:30pm – 3:30pm, One Community Centre, LS9 7SG

Leeds Refugee Forum are offering a training session for volunteers and community leaders to understand and navigate the new eVisa system. Topics will include a breakdown of the eVisa process, guidance on how to apply, critical deadlines, and troubleshooting common issues. Book onto Leeds Refugee Forum – eVisa support session for volunteers, community leaders and staff via email.

Empowerment Through Technology: Donate your digital equipment for good

For this year’s Leeds Digital Festival, 100% Digital Leeds hosted a webinar ‘Empowerment Through Technology: Donate your digital equipment for good’, in partnership with Solidaritech. The webinar was developed by Leeds Digital Volunteering Partnership, as part of 100% Digital Leeds’s Tech sector support key initiative.

When we’re working with migrants, we see that these people are some of society’s poorest. They’re not the poorest in terms of skills. They are the poorest in that they only have £37 a week. There’s no way they can afford a smartphone or a laptop to do things like find secure housing, access health services, and stay in touch with friends and family. We’re a lifeline for people, and we do it all through donated tech.”

 Ben McKenna, CEO, Solidaritech.

Solidaritech repurposes unwanted laptops, desktops, tablets, and smartphones, passing them on to asylum seekers and refugees without digital equipment. The webinar informs businesses and other organisations of the impact of donating unwanted equipment to Solidaritech, and the processes they have in place to enable secure donating. Solidaritech then work with local organisations supporting those from migrant backgrounds to gift the equipment to people who need it most. Having a digital device and connectivity helps people resolve their immigration status, pursue studies, and start their lives in their new country.

Webinar recording – Empowerment Through Technology: Donate your digital equipment for good.

Webinar overview

The webinar features:

  • Ben McKenna, CEO at Solidaritech, who gives an overview of the donations process from collection, through secure wiping and refurbishment, to the gifting of equipment to the end beneficiaries.
  • Darren Stocks, IT Service Lead at Emerald Publishing, who shares their experience of donating equipment to Solidaritech, and how donating devices help the business to achieve its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) goals. 
  • David Skivington, English at Home Volunteer Manager at Leeds Asylum Seekers’ Support Network, who shares the difference donated equipment makes to the lives of the refugees and asylum seekers his organisation supports.

Solidaritech

100% Digital Leeds has been working with Solidaritech for several years. Formed in 2017, Solidaritech is a Community Interest Company that exists to help refugees and asylum seekers across Yorkshire get access to technology by repurposing unwanted laptops, desktops, tablets, and smartphones. All donated devices are safely and professionally wiped of all data, with any problems repaired, and new Operating Systems and suitable software installed for the next users. In the last 12 months Solidaritech has refurbished and gifted over 1,300 devices to digitally excluded people across Yorkshire and the Humber. 

To donate unwanted laptops, desktops, tablets, and smartphones, complete Solidaritech’s Donate Form. For more information about the donations process contact Solidaritech on 01274 288 910 and hello@solidaritech.com.

Partner profile: People Matters

People Matters supports people with learning disabilities and other hidden disabilities to reach their full potential. They offer individual support to their members citywide, at home, and in community settings. They also facilitate wellbeing groups and run a variety of activities to help their members towards employment.

People Matters prides itself on being a member led charity, which means members have autonomy over the care and support that they receive. Staff work very closely with their members to make sure they are offering services and support that will enable members to reach their full potential.

Staff at People Matters recognise how important digital inclusion is when tackling the health and societal inequalities faced by their members. They have worked closely with 100% Digital Leeds and regularly attend Autism and Learning Disability Digital Inclusion Network meetings to look at varied and creative ways of embedding digital inclusion in their work. They have included digital activities in their arts and wellbeing groups and used digital technologies to facilitate activities for the Arts in Care Digital Programme.  They are members of the National Digital Inclusion Network and they gift SIM cards to their members experiencing data poverty, via the National Databank. 

People Matters took part in Multiply to help their members access digital devices while improving their numeracy and move closer to employment. They embedded digital elements into their employability work, including helping their members to create video CVs. They have also been successful in gaining UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) funding which will help them to offer more employability and digital inclusion support for their members.

Supporting people with learning disabilities and hidden disabilities

People Matters understands that many of their members face barriers to reaching their full potential and engaging fully in society. They also understand that their members have a higher chance of being digitally excluded. Digital exclusion can quickly exacerbate problems that disabled people face in daily life.

People Matters know that the barriers their members face to getting online can be complicated and varied:

  • Many members struggle financially due to the low levels of employment within this community.
  • Many people with learning disabilities or other hidden disabilities lack confidence, and this can include the confidence to try things online.
  • Many members at People Matters are vulnerable, which means they may need additional support and advice to keep themselves safe online.

People Matters make sure their members receive digital support which meets their individual needs by embedding digital inclusion throughout their service. Staff at People Matters have taken part in digital inclusion awareness workshops delivered by 100% Digital Leeds and have also had training from AbilityNet.

Digital inclusion in one-to-one support sessions

People Matters offers individual outreach support to approximately 80 people in Leeds, both at home and in the community. They support their members to take part in activities that build skills and promote independence. Staff who offer one-to-one support build strong relationships with the people that they support, as they have the time to learn about members’ personal needs and interests. This means they are well placed to identify which of their members might benefit from receiving digital support, and the level of support they will require to learn new digital skills.

Staff can also identify what might interest their members and motivate them to go online. When a member at People Matters asked their support worker to help them to apply for a new bus pass, the member of staff helped the member to set up an email address and access a website to apply for the bus pass themself. As a result, the member gained confidence by completing a digital task and also had an email address to use independently in future.

“Staff at People Matters support members to bank online, to create email addresses, use online apps and resources to travel independently, to listen to music, to look up recipes and to look for employment opportunities, to name just a few things! Our aim is to help our members to live independent, fulfilling lives and being online is a big part of that.”

Elissa Matley, CEO, People Matters.

Digital inclusion in health and wellbeing sessions

People Matters run a range of social and wellbeing groups which help their members to have fun and make friends whilst also learning skills which make them more independent and confident. Members choose the types of activities they want to do, and staff will embed digital elements in these groups in ways which are relevant and appropriate. For example, recent sessions to help members look after themselves and be independent have included lots of work on internet safety. Sessions covered topics such as banking safely, dealing with online bullying, recognising and avoiding scams, and using social media.

People Matters also run wellbeing groups where their members take part in a host of creative activities. They have used these sessions as an opportunity for their members to enjoy some gentle, digital activities such as drawing or colouring on a tablet alongside more traditional arts and crafts. This has enabled less confident members to try digital activities in a non-threatening environment.

Arts in Care digital programme

In 2023, People Matters wellbeing groups took part in the Arts in Care digital programme to bring their work to a wider audience. They delivered an interactive drumming workshop which they shared with care residents over Zoom. By keeping the session very simple, without the need for any specialised musical equipment, they managed to bring their work to a wider audience by contributing to the programme.

“Arts in Care allowed us to reach a whole new audience with our activity. Our members had been working on drumming, and a Zoom session meant they could share their skills with other people who were also able to participate by using everyday items to make creative sounds. The session was genuinely interactive, and it was wonderful to see how much fun the participants had communicating with one another. We are excited to participate in more Arts in Care activities in future.”

Mandy Craven, Outreach Service Coordinator, People Matters.

Employability

People Matters run a wide range of employability groups to support their members to move closer to employment. The groups are aimed at people with a wide range of abilities and ambitions. Activities range from being a part of the People Matters micro social enterprise Nourishing People, to job workshops and one-to-one support. People Matters recognise the need for jobseekers to have digital skills in order to gain and retain employment. Every member who engages with these groups gets digital support which is tailored to their needs, whether this is helping them to set up an email address, navigating a job search website, or creating their own video CV.

Multiply

The Multiply programme is a government-funded scheme to improve adult numeracy skills. 100% Digital Leeds is working with Leeds City Council’s Employment and Skills team and third sector partners to use Multiply to support communities hit hardest by the cost-of-living crisis. People Matters have delivered three rounds of Multiply, supporting 68 people to improve their numeracy skills. Each of these members has also been given a device which is suited to their needs along with free connectivity which will help them to be digitally included in their day to day lives.

People Matters is well placed to deliver Multiply as they work with some of the most vulnerable people in our society. Most of their members are unemployed and reliant on benefits which means that they need to budget their money carefully to live a balanced life. People Matters take a person-centred approach to the programme and encourage their staff to tailor the budgeting work to the needs of the person they are working with. Activities range from taking members to shop for food on a budget to helping members to bank online. The programme has been successful in giving members new skills and helping them to be more independent in their daily lives.

“One of our members had historically struggled with managing his own finances. He was checking his balance at the ATM with the support of his mum which was time consuming and inconvenient. His support worker recognised this and used the time allocated for Multiply to teach him to bank online. Now the learner can check his balance and monitor his money and spending independently using an app on his phone. He can plan his own budget, manage his own expenses, and is more in control of his own finances.”

Elissa Matley, CEO, People Matters.

The National Databank

People Matters are members of the National Databank and have been actively gifting SIM cards to their members since 2021. Having access to data without having to worry about confusing mobile contracts, high bills or running out of data on a Pay As You Go deal is life changing for members who struggle financially.  It means they can stay in contact with friends, carers, and support workers, and access online services at their convenience.

“I got a SIM from the Databank. It really helped me when I was searching for a new place to live as there was plenty of data to go online.”

Stephen, member of an employability group, People Matters.

Having access to a mobile phone with data can also make members feel more confident and increase their independence. One member who lacked the confidence to travel independently received a SIM card so that he could check bus times on his phone and phone his carer if he was feeling nervous.

“This made a huge difference to his wellbeing. He feels a lot happier now and he’s proud that he is able to get around by himself.”

Theo, support worker, People Matters.

Next steps

People Matters continue to embed digital inclusion into the work they do. They are using funding from UKSPF to enhance their existing employability programme. This includes delivering themed workshops with a focus on different digital elements, including setting up an email address, updating a CV, creating a video CV, or learning to job search online. They have also set up drop-in sessions where members can borrow digital equipment if they do not have access to their own.

People Matters continue to work closely with 100% Digital Leeds and regularly attend Autism and Learning Disability Digital Inclusion Network meetings where opportunities, funding and good practice related to digital inclusion are shared on a monthly basis.

“ALaDDIN meetings have been a great opportunity for us to explore creative ways we can use digital tools to support our members. They have helped us to promote the work that we do and collaborate with other organisations in ways which are beneficial for our staff and our members. Working with 100% Digital Leeds has helped us to develop digital training and support which can be life changing for the people we support. 100% Digital Leeds has helped us to gain funding and access opportunities which has made a positive difference to the service we provide.”

Elissa Matley, CEO, People Matters.

If you are interested in hearing more about the Autism and Learning Disabilities Digital Inclusion Network or would like to join a meeting, please contact nicky@pyramid.org.uk

Arts in Care Digital Programme 2024

The National Day of Arts in Care Homes  is an annual event championing, promoting, and encouraging arts engagement in care settings and highlighting the health and wellbeing benefits for all involved. In celebration of the National Day of Arts in Care Homes 2024, 100% Digital Leeds has developed an engaging programme of creative workshops open to care providers in Leeds, free of charge. This programme is open to all care settings including residential care homes, day services, supported living, recovery hubs, hospices, and unpaid carers giving one to one support.

The programme includes a range of art forms and cultural activities. Sessions are suitable to the needs of people being cared for, such as older people, people living with dementia, and people with learning disabilities.

We can help you with the digital bit

Most of the sessions are delivered remotely via Zoom or Teams so multiple care settings can join in at the same time.

Each session description includes details of tech requirements. Anything in brackets isn’t essential but ‘nice to have’. For example, for sessions saying ‘(camera)’, participants can be on camera if your setting has access to a camera, the participants are comfortable being on camera, and your care setting has the relevant permissions, but being on camera isn’t essential to participating.

Most sessions require only a screen and speakers so where residents are joining in as a group the session could be played through a TV. If a resident is joining the session solo they could use a laptop, iPad, or other tablet. Contact 100% Digital Leeds if your care setting needs support.

How to book

For all activities email jennifer.rhodes@leeds.gov.uk to book. Please note that the in-person activities are limited to one care setting per booking. When an in-person activity is booked it will be removed from the timetable as it will no longer be available. The links to the online activities will be sent out the week before.

Timetable of activities

View as timetable (GoogleDoc)

Monday 23 September

11:00am Canal and River Trust Gongoozler Gameshow

The Canal and River Trust are pleased to offer you their lively and interactive digital resource “The Gongoozler Gameshow”. Delivered in the style of a gameshow, the session will help you to discover the wide and diverse range of nature that can be found along their 2,000 miles of waterways.

Learn more about the six different kinds of habitat that can be found on and around the towpaths and the plants and animals that call it their home. Through the True or False round, the Name that Creature round, and the Countdown Conundrum, you’ll learn more about the canal environment and the organisation that helps to keep it alive. So come on down and join!

Duration: 60 minutes

Format: Live workshop, delivered remotely via Zoom/Teams (TBC)

Equipment: Screen, speakers, keyboard (camera)

1:30pm Richard and Honey, singer and acoustic guitarist

Richard, joined by his dog Honey will play a variety of music for you, accompanied by his guitar. Richard’s soulful voice and skillful guitar playing will have people singing along to their favourite tunes and Honey will steal the show with her playful antics.  

Richard Stirland is a professional singer and guitarist who specialises in care home entertainment, currently performing in many homes across the North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire region. Richard has worked in the care sector for many years as well as performing in care homes. He is accompanied by his 7 year old cockapoo, Honey. The songs he sings are chosen to trigger memories, stir emotions or just to get people moving. Sing-a-long songs can be included so that everyone knows the words to be able to join in. He is available for any events, functions or parties over the year .

Duration: 60 minutes

Format: Live workshop, delivered remotely via Teams

Equipment: Screen, speakers, keyboard (camera)

Tuesday 24 September

12:15pm Dance into the Spotlight with Ascendance

Dance into the Spotlight! Join Ascendance’s vibrant and uplifting dance session to learn a dazzling Cabaret routine. Easy to follow and full of jazzy flair, this is your chance to shine. Grab your hats, feathers, and sparkles, and let’s sing and dance together! Guaranteed to bring smiles and get everyone moving. Whether seated or standing, everyone can join in the fun. Life is a cabaret, old chum, come to the cabaret!

Duration: 45 minutes

Format: Live workshop, delivered remotely via Zoom

Equipment: Screen, speakers, keyboard (camera)

1:30pm Aspire CBS Rock and Roll Bingo – Oldies but Goldies

Join Aspire CBS for an exciting online rock and roll themed bingo session. Held live over Zoom, Aspire CBS will play a line and a full house and when your bingo card is full, unmute and shout, ‘Bingo!’ as loud as you can. There are 20 songs on each bingo card – when you have booked onto this session you will be sent bingo cards to download and print (single-sided).

Duration: 90 minutes

Format: Live workshop, delivered remotely via Zoom

Equipment: Screen, speakers, keyboard (camera)

Wednesday 25 September

10:45am Wellbeing Wednesday with Ascendance – Dance into the Spotlight

Dance into the Spotlight! Join Ascendance’s vibrant and uplifting dance session to learn a dazzling Cabaret routine. Easy to follow and full of jazzy flair, this is your chance to shine. Grab your hats, feathers, and sparkles, and let’s sing and dance together! Guaranteed to bring smiles and get everyone moving. Whether seated or standing, everyone can join in the fun. Life is a cabaret, old chum, come to the cabaret!

Duration: 60 minutes

Format: Live workshop, delivered remotely via Zoom

Equipment: Screen, speakers, keyboard (camera)

Friday 27 September

11:00am In-person activity by the Canal and River Trust

For this in-person session you have the choice of two activities:

Lace arts activity

Learn more about the history of “poor man’s lace”: the beautiful hand-crafted crochet that traditionally decorated the narrowboats of the canals. Look at examples of how the crochet was used to make working boats more like home and have a go at making your own simple, printed version of the craft.

Virtual reality session

Experience the canals and waterways in comfort using virtual reality.

Duration: 60 minutes

Format: In-person workshop, delivered in your care setting.

2:00pm Active Communities – RJC Dance online dance session for adults and elders

This one-hour online session will be delivered by diverse dance specialist Janetta Maxwell who has over 30 years’ experience in the community dance world. Using the artform of dance as a vehicle to encourage and motivate, participants will take part in a movement and exercise session enhanced by music and rhythm to activate bodies and minds. The session will support socialisation, creative expression, memory retention, physical fitness and enable positive mental health.

The session will include a warm-up covering mobilisation, movement vocabulary, strength, stamina, stretching and flexibility. This will be followed by creative movement designed to build a safe, friendly environment reflective of the music, movement, social dance of the cultural era of the participants.

Duration: 60 minutes

Format: Live workshop, delivered remotely via Zoom

Equipment: Screen, speakers, keyboard (camera)

2:00pm In-person activity by the Canal and River Trust

For this in-person session you have the choice of two activities:

Lace arts activity

Learn more about the history of “poor man’s lace”: the beautiful hand-crafted  crochet that traditionally decorated the narrowboats of the canals. Look at examples of how the crochet was used to make working boats more like home and have a go at making your own simple, printed version of the craft.

Virtual reality session

Experience the canals and waterways in comfort using virtual reality.

Duration: 60 minutes

Format: In-person workshop, delivered in your care setting.

Online resources

Yorkshire Dance printable Dance Cards for staff

Link to Yorkshire Dance Spotify account with example music

Yorkshire Dance – Dance on Toolkit – A toolkit of inspiration, research and resources to help develop dance programmes for older people.

Dancing the Small Moments – Yorkshire Dance
In Mature Company – Yorkshire Dance

Barings Foundation Treasury of Arts Activities for Older People – PDF with a range of activities to download.

Weaving the Web – Bringing heritage to life in a digital world from Sunny Bank Mills – use the 360 degree images and tour of the mills to bring heritage to life in a digital world.
The Weaving the Web project acknowledges that preservation of the textile history at Sunny Bank Mills is vital, but that in order to survive the Collection must be accessible to all. There are now over 50 objects available to view online and you can click, zoom, scroll, rotate and explore all of the digital collection in 3D.

Sunny Bank Mills virtual tours and oral histories You can also pay a virtual visit to the site and listen to oral histories from June, a previous worker at the mill, or take a tour with John and William, two 4th generation managing directors.

All activities can be used to spark discussion and share memories, sometimes forgotten, of lives in industries and times now considered ‘heritage’. Bring their lives and history to life in a digital world.

Leeds Lieder Education Videos performances of ‘art song’.

Memory boxes from Marks and Spencer.

Sporting resources for older people from Sporting Memories.

Visual archive of Sunny Bank Mill.

Archive of old photos of Leeds at Leodis.net.

The My House of Memories app allows you to explore objects from the past and share memories together. It can be used by anyone, but has been designed for, and with, people living with dementia and their carers.

The BorrowBox app allows users to browse, preview, reserve, and download library titles on their electronic devices free of charge using a Leeds library card.

Leeds Libraries online resources including online magazines and newspapers.

MediciTV is the world leading classical music channel offering access to the best of classical music. Sign in using a Leeds library card.

Animal Live Cams – live animal cameras from zoos, farms, and wildlife reserves.

Online Games for Seniors – Free online games to help with mental stimulation, such as puzzles, crosswords, and card games.       

60s Haircut Gallery – Collection of vintage hairstyle photos from the 1960s.             

Virtual Museum Tours – Virtual tours of famous museums including The British Museum and The Louvre.               

Exercise Videos for Older Adults – Free online exercise videos specifically designed for seniors, including chair exercises.               

Online Music Therapy – Playlists and music therapy resources to stimulate memory and create a calming environment.               

BBC Reminiscence Archive – A treasure trove of videos, photos, and stories.           

Virtual Gardening Communities – Online communities or live gardening cameras.          

Virtual Church Services – Access to virtual religious services.           

Historic UK Photo Archives – Online archives of historic UK photos.

Nostalgic Radio Shows – Online stations or archives playing classic radio shows or music from past decades.               

Live Streaming Religious Events – Links to live-streamed religious events or prayer services.               

Older People’s Digital Inclusion Network Meeting – July 2024

The Older People’s Digital Inclusion Network is a partnership between 100% Digital Leeds and Leeds Older People’s Forum. The Network brings together organisations across the city who support older people with digital inclusion, building new partnerships and sharing learning and resources. In July the first Older People’s Digital Inclusion Network meeting of 2024 was held at Virgin Money in Leeds City Centre, with the aim of identifying shared priorities for the rest of the year and into 2025.

Nine organisations attended this face-to-face Network meeting, including organisations that are leading the way for digital inclusion across the city and who are well positioned to share best practice:

These organisations have been working with 100% Digital Leeds for several years and shared their experiences and expertise, as well as how they have acquired multiple funds to help them develop their digital inclusion offers for older people.

The July 2024 Digital Inclusion Network meeting, focused on:

  • Shaping the future of the Network
  • Sharing best practice
  • Supporting organisations with bid writing
  • Be Online Stay Safe (BOSS) project update and resources
  • The ‘Writing Back’ programme

Shaping the future of the Older People’s Digital Inclusion Network

LOPF and 100% Digital Leeds agreed that there was a need to reassess the Network to ensure the direction and purpose aligns with the needs of the organisations, and continues to be useful in helping them to develop their digital inclusion offers. An Older People’s Digital Inclusion Network survey was developed and circulated to members of the Network a month before the meeting to ensure each organisation had the opportunity to define the Network’s direction. The results of the survey have informed future planning of the Network, including themes to focus on at future meetings, frequency of meetings, priorities, and any challenges organisations are facing. These insights are helping to shape the future of the Network.

As a result of the survey, it was agreed that the Network would meet:

  • In person, twice a year in June and November, for 90 minutes. These face-to-face sessions will focus on common issues, barriers, areas of interest, and explore collaborative opportunities. These meetings will be interactive and focus on specific themes to address significant needs that require thoughtful consideration and discussion.
  • Online, three times a year in February, April, and September, for 60 minutes. These sessions will be shorter and give updates on specific digital inclusion topics and share resources and learning. There will also be an opportunity to invite guest speakers to share information that could help organisations with their digital inclusion offers.

Sharing Best Practice

A priority of this Network is to create a space where every organisation can share updates, information, knowledge, and support each other. Our aim is to promote active participation, collaboration, and a fair sharing of ideas among all organisations, which will help to drive this Network forward.

At the meeting, organisations shared the following information:

  • The digital support that each organisation offers to address the needs and demands of their communities, including sessions on online safety, as well as any challenges or barriers they are facing.
  • Your Back Yard and Burmantofts Community Friends shared upcoming projects, such as new digital platforms and digital spaces for older people.
  • Leeds Irish Health and Homes discussed the digital health support they provide, including support with NHS services such as PATCHS and the NHS app.
  • Holbeck Together asked for advice on data gifting via the National Databank, the best approach when encountering difficulties with signing up, and the support available for addressing issues when they arise. They also shared how they conducted a digital survey with members to identify the barriers they are facing, and how they’re using that to support funding bids. In the survey they found that the most common digital inclusion barrier amongst their members was lack of digital skills and knowledge.

Supporting organisations with bid writing

Leeds Older People’s Forum highlighted the Bid to Win course and the advantages it offers in supporting bid writing. This course is a series of workshops and one to one support delivered by Bid Experts. It is designed to increase understanding of grant and public sector procurement, build upon existing and new bidding skills, and shares tips, tricks and shortcuts to achieving bid wins.

Anyone participating will also benefit from the Masterclass webinars on key topics such as Social Value, Capture Management, AI in Bidding, and Pitch to Win to further enhance knowledge and skills with the aim of securing more grants and contracts.

Upcoming course dates can be found here: Bid to Win – Grants and Public Sector Contracts (futuregoals.co.uk)

More course resources have been added to the Digital Inclusion Delivery Resources Google Drive.

Be Online Stay Safe (BOSS) Project

The Digital Coordinator for BOSS shared the success of the Be Online Stay Safe (BOSS) project. BOSS was a partnership between Leeds Older People’s Forum and 100% Digital Leeds, delivered between March and December 2023. The aim of the project was to address the challenges faced by older people in diverse communities to staying safe online, aligning with the goals outlined in the DCMS Online Media Literacy Strategy.

BOSS focussed on supporting older people more likely to face additional barriers to digital inclusion and media literacy, including cultural, language, and literacy barriers. The project worked to empower older people who might be more susceptible to online scams to feel more comfortable and confident navigating the online world.

The ambition now for BOSS is to share the learning and resources across the Network to enable more organisations to delivery and adapt the content.

LOPF briefly explained how they used ChatGPT to help tailor sessions and develop step-by-step guides for users. The Network found this highly beneficial and agreed to add ChatGPT to the agenda for the upcoming virtual meeting to further explore how to effectively use this tool and how this can free up capacity. The Google Drive includes more resources to support with using ChatGPT.

All BOSS resources, including workbooks, session plans and YouTube videos have been shared on Leeds Older People’s Forum website and are also in the Digital Inclusion Delivery Resources Google Drive. A BOSS Toolkit has also been developed, which focuses on top tips for delivering digital media literacy for older people using the learning from BOSS.

If you would like more information on the BOSS project, please contact Samantha@opforum.org.uk

Leeds Older People’s Forum and 100% Digital Leeds are hosting a BOSS webinar during Leeds Digital Festival on 17 September 2024.

Writing Back programme

100% Digital Leeds connected with Katy Lovelace from the University of Leeds to share the Writing Back programme. This is an email pen pal scheme that connects people over the age of 55 with University of Leeds international students to participate in an email exchange. It aims to provide participants with opportunities to build inter-generational and inter-cultural connections, to tackle loneliness in students and older people, and can help the development of digital skills in older people.

“I had members saying, ‘I’ll never be able to do it’ and by the end they were doing it on their own, sending emails backwards and forwards to their pen pals. People were excited to look at their emails, not stressed. People like sharing their stories.”

Kelly, Outreach and Digital Engagement Worker, Burmantofts Community Friends.

“It went really well, our members and volunteers benefited greatly, with some having formed lasting connections resulting in ongoing contact with their pen pal.”

Karen, Manager, Neighbourhood Action in Farnley, New Farnley and Moortop.

The scheme runs annually from October to July, pairing older pen pals with a new student pen pal each year if they choose to continue participating.

For any organisations interested in promoting the scheme, please contact Katy Lovelace at writingback@leeds.ac.uk for more information.

Next Steps

September virtual meeting

The Network agreed it would spend more time looking at ChatGPT and discuss the opportunities for using ChatGPT as part of their digital inclusion work. This will be on the agenda for the virtual meeting on Wednesday 11 September 2024.

November face-to-face meeting

The face-to-face Network meeting on Wednesday 13 November 2024 will focus on funding opportunities, bringing organisations together to share knowledge and resources for digital inclusion funding bids.

This session is open to anyone who works for an organisation that supports digital inclusion for older people or has a responsibility for identifying and securing funding. The session will aim to enhance skills, boost confidence in digital inclusion bid submissions, and support organisations to potentially find partners for joint bids to create a new role for a digital inclusion officer to work across multiple organisations.

If you would like more information or an invitation to a future Older People’s Digital Inclusion Network meeting please contact either Natasha.hill@leeds.gov.uk or Samantha@opforum.org.uk

Partner Profile: Trust Leeds

Trust Leeds is a Leeds-based charity which follows the Self-Reliant Group (SRG) model. Community SRGs build confidence, skills, and emotional wellbeing, and allow people to develop their own small savings to build financial independence. Be Your Own Boss SRGs support unemployed and under-employed people to become self-employed by developing their business plan alongside a cohort of peers and business coaches.

Members of SRGs have gone on to set up successful businesses and community organisations across Leeds, as well as creating lifelong friendships and peer support networks. Trust Leeds also provides ethical microfinance loans to their entrepreneurial members. These provisions serve to improve the financial health and wellbeing of people facing poverty in Leeds.

Trust Leeds work alongside their SRG members, helping them to build financial independence, confidence, and skills in a person-centred way. This person-centred approach closely aligns with the 100% Digital Leeds approach to digital inclusion. Trust Leeds has worked with 100% Digital Leeds to embed digital inclusion and digital skills support into everything they do. They offer a range of support to their members who may have low digital skills or may be experiencing data poverty.

Digital Heart

Trust Leeds has long been aware of the necessity of digital inclusion for their members and have seen the negative impact of digital exclusion for entrepreneurial people who are underserved, living in poverty, or facing other disadvantages. Many of Trust Leeds’ members understand the importance of digital inclusion and digital skills as they move on to set up their own businesses after being a part of a SRG.

Earlier this year, Trust Leeds were offered support from Cognizant as part of the work that 100% Digital Leeds is doing to increase support for digital inclusion from the city’s tech sector, with colleagues from Leeds Community Foundation, Voluntary Action Leeds, and Forum Central. These initiatives aim to increase the capacity of community organisations, and support businesses to implement their Corporate Social Responsibility offers and feel connected to the city. The support from Cognizant helped Trust Leeds to put much-needed digital support in place in a way that best serves their members and their ethos.

Trust Leeds held a gathering of SRGs under the theme of ‘Energising and Enterprising’ which marked the start of their Digital Heart project. The day included inspiring speeches, personalised cybersecurity advice from a Cognizant volunteer, and individual self-employment sessions. Members could scan a QR code to take a digital skills assessment so that Trust Leeds staff and facilitators could gain a better understanding of their individual digital skill levels, and how digital inclusion support from Trust Leeds could be tailored to be most effective. Members were also asked if they struggled to pay for access to the internet and were offered a free SIM card with 4G data, texts, and calls from Good Things Foundation’s National Databank.

Alongside this, Virgin Money delivered a session focusing on online safety, online banking, and basic digital skills support. The digital support from both Cognizant and Virgin Money was very well received and the personalised support was invaluable for the development of SRG members’ digital skills and confidence, helping them to become more independent and continue building their businesses. 

Digital Do It

Trust Leeds’ online Digital Do It sessions were inspired by Shut Up & Write – an international writing community that provides the tools and support for writers to get their writing done when they are struggling with motivation or confidence. In a similar style, Digital Do It allows Trust Leeds members and staff to dedicate one hour of their week to conquering a digital challenge. This is often a task they have been putting off due to a lack of time, low confidence, external distractions, or other challenges.

“Everybody has different digital skills development needs and we were finding it difficult to find one training session or one focus for everybody.”

Liza Kellett, CEO, Trust Leeds

Anyone with a digital task to complete can join the Digital Do It group video call. At the start of the session, a facilitator asks each member what their achievable digital goal for the session is, and types it out in the chat to encourage members stay focused. Everyone works to achieve their goals in breakout rooms and comes back to the main room in the last 10 minutes to feed back to the group. The facilitator makes notes and posts them in the chat.

Digital Do It allows members to focus on their own learning whilst providing peer support to those who need it. Helping others allows members to build confidence in their own abilities and helps them to further develop their own skills. Members are put into their own breakout rooms, sometimes with the support of another member if needed, and facilitators check in on all of the breakout rooms to offer additional support where necessary.

The Digital Do It sessions have proven to be a motivating, friendly, and welcoming environment for everyone at any stage in their digital journey. The sessions are going so well that Trust Leeds is going to continue the sessions beyond the Summer and is opening the sessions up to anyone who is interested. Contact Liza for more information and the meeting link at info@trustleeds.org.uk.

“There’s no judgement. Nobody rolls their eyes or says it’s ‘intuitive’ or ‘easy’. It was so lovely when everybody clapped when I told them I’d learnt how to make a logo on Canva.”

Trust Leeds SRG member

Multiply

Thanks to Multiply funding Trust Leeds was able to extend its numeracy and digital support to members. Using its regular market stall as a focus, members of the Wellbeing Warriors SRG learned to use Excel for the first time to catalogue product costs and pricing of their handmade items, and income and expenditure from the market itself. The funding also enabled Trust Leeds to gift smartphones and tablets, depending on need, which meant they had many more tools and apps to explore to improve their digital skills and confidence.

“You can’t get away from digital, even if you wanted to, and once you get to grips with small steps you realise how helpful it is: for managing money, benefits, keeping up with friends, and even the doctor!”

Trust Leeds SRG member

Next Steps

Trust Leeds is starting its online 12-week Be Your Own Boss SRG programme this month and is also running three SRG Day Camps with specific themes and target members in mind.  The charity has trained 65 community development workers, peer support workers, and members in how to facilitate SRGs themselves, so they can share the value of this international model and enable others to adopt it in their own communities of need, geography, or interest.  As holder of the SRG Hub in Leeds, the team – who are also trained Digital Champions – are always on hand to support members and potential members facing barriers due to a lack of digital skills, connectivity, or a digital device. 100% Digital Leeds will continue to work closely with Trust Leeds to develop their digital inclusion support offer to fit the ever-changing needs of the members that make the organisation.

“Trust Leeds puts digital inclusion at the heart of our work because we know that the people we support face multiple challenges – and those challenges can be faced even more effectively with strong digital skills. Poverty, financial exclusion, and poor mental and physical health can all be made just that little bit easier if people are confident and empowered to find their own solutions through digital means. We know that when our members are digitally included, they feel more in control, more knowledgeable, and more powerful.”

Liza Kellett, CEO, Trust Leeds

100% Digital Leeds at Leeds Digital Festival 2024

Leeds Digital Festival returns 16 to 27 September 2024 for a two-week celebration of digital culture in all its forms. This year, 100% Digital Leeds is pleased to be hosting three events as part of the programme, highlighting some of our current workstreams.

Be Online and Stay Safe: Media Literacy with Older People

Tuesday 17 September, 10.00am to 11.30am

This event is a chance for you to hear more about the success and findings of the Be Online Stay Safe (BOSS) project. 

The project was led by Leeds Older People’s Forum (LOPF), a network of third sector organisations working with and for older people, in partnership with 100% Digital Leeds.

Our line-up of speakers, including third sector delivery partners and the Digital Coordinator at LOPF, will be sharing information about the project and how you can tailor the BOSS resources to support your organisation and communities.

The project focused on empowering older people from diverse communities with low digital skills who were more vulnerable to online scams. It supported them to develop their confidence and skills in how to stay safe online, access accurate information, and feel more at ease when navigating the online world. It also explored the barriers that older people face to digital inclusion and media literacy, such as cultural, language, and literacy challenges, and supported them to overcome these barriers through themed sessions.

In the webinar the speakers will share how the project was developed and adapted to meet the needs of older people. Attendees can access all of the resources from the BOSS project, including workbooks, session plans, and tutorial videos on the Leeds Older People’s Forum website and the Digital Inclusion Delivery Resources Google Drive.

Empowerment Through Technology: Donate your digital equipment for good

Monday 23 September, 1.00pm to 1.30pm

Solidaritech repurpose your organisation’s unwanted laptops, desktops, tablets, and smartphones, passing them on to asylum seekers and refugees without digital equipment. In the last 12 months Solidaritech have refurbished and gifted over 1,300 devices to digitally excluded people across Yorkshire and Humber.

This 30-minute lunchtime webinar is an opportunity to find out how you can easily donate unwanted digital equipment to help people to resolve their immigration status, pursue studies, and start their lives in their new country.

Solidaritech will explain how they safely and professionally wipe your old hard drives, and install new Operating Systems to make new, quicker, and more usable machines.

You will hear from businesses who have already donated their equipment to support their company’s social value and environmental objectives. You will also hear from charities about the difference these donations make to the refugees and asylum seekers they work with, and you’ll have an opportunity to ask questions.

Digital Volunteering Matchmaking Event 2024

Thursday 26 September, 10.00am to 11.30am

This ‘speed networking’ style event aims to link tech companies seeking Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) volunteer opportunities with voluntary, community, or social enterprise (VCSE) organisations looking for volunteers to support basic digital skills for Leeds residents. We aim for attendees to leave the event having made meaningful matches, leading to ongoing, mutually beneficial partnerships.

The plan for the morning:

  • Introductions and context setting from 100% Digital Leeds, Voluntary Action Leeds, and Forum Central.
  • A panel discussion on the mutual benefits to tech companies and VCSEs partnering to support digital inclusion for Leeds residents, from those who have already worked successfully in partnership.
  • A ‘speed networking’ style exercise to foster new partnerships.
  • An opportunity for attendees to continue any conversations with potential partners.

Who would benefit from attending this event:

  • Spaces are limited to 10 tech sector business representatives and 10 VCSE organisation representatives – only one representative per organisation, please.
  • All attendees should represent businesses or VCSE organisations based in or delivering services in Leeds.
  • Representatives should be organisational leaders with enough influence to action any commitments made. Example roles include CSR or ESG Leads, Volunteer Managers, and Digital Inclusion Officers.

UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF)

UKSPF replaced EU Structural and Investment Funds in the UK, and £9,393,538 was allocated to Leeds specifically for local delivery. 100% Digital Leeds was allocated funding to increase the capacity of community organisations to increase digital inclusion. The funding had a specific focus on interventions and activities that build people’s confidence to use digital tools and services as an enabler to increase financial resilience.

Equipment to increase digital inclusion

Capital funding has been used by third sector organisations to buy digital equipment that will help them to increase digital inclusion for the people they support. Organisations that have received funding include:

Digital Inclusion Officers

Revenue funding has been used to appoint Digital Inclusion Officers in third sector organisations:

  • The Old Fire Station in Gipton is hosting a Digital Inclusion Officer to focus on people of working age living in poverty or on a low income, and people who have been impacted by increases in the cost of living and who have low digital skills and confidence. They will also focus on areas of the city where people are more likely to experience financial hardship, including priority neighbourhoods, Areas of Multiple Deprivation, and pockets of disadvantage within more affluent areas of the city.
  • Pyramid is hosting an Officer to focus on people with learning disabilities and autistic people. That Officer facilitates the Autism and Learning Disability Digital Inclusion Network (ALaDDIN) which brings together organisations to embed digital inclusion support within their service offers for people with learning disabilities and autistic people. Pyramid also hosts a consultation group of people with lived experience whose thoughts and opinions inform the work of the Officer and the Network.
  • An Officer at Voluntary Action Leeds is focused on improving connectivity, digital equipment, and digital inclusion support in a number of community centres across the city. As well as supporting community organisations, the Officer will deliver digital inclusion support sessions and activities that build people’s confidence to use digital tools and services as an enabler to increase financial resilience and confidence.
  • Leeds Older People’s Forum is hosting an Officer who will focus on older people and the organisations that support them. They will build on the success of the Be Online Stay Safe (BOSS) project as well as working with the Neighbourhood Networks across Leeds, and co-chairing the Older People’s Digital Inclusion Network.

Increasing digital inclusion and participation for these groups will give people more equitable access to online services and resources. It will enable people to use digital tools and technology to increase their independence and make more informed choices. It will also increase people’s ability to access a wide range of opportunities that may be available exclusively online, or are cheaper or more cost-effective if accessed online.

“Voluntary Action Leeds highly values our relationship with 100% Digital Leeds. As well as being an indispensable part of the city’s work to enable greater digital inclusion in communities, our experience is that they are entirely committed to working with the strengths of the third sector to deliver this mission; often through placing Digital Inclusion Officers close to communities in frontline third sector organisations. The team brings a creative mindset to thinking about how we reduce digital inclusion barriers. They are an invaluable source of knowledge, support and advice, and targeted resources for frontline third sector organisations.”

Social Value Manager, Voluntary Action Leeds