Community Calling 2025

Community Calling is a national scheme created by the environmental charity Hubbub and Virgin Media O2. Hubbub works with community organisations and local councils to give unwanted smartphones to people who need them, along with up to 12 months’ free mobile data, minutes, and texts via the National Databank to help recipients get online.

100% Digital Leeds worked with Hubbub and Virgin Media O2 on the first Community Calling scheme in 2021. More recently, Community Calling has expanded, working with a large network of both national and local charities. As part of this, in 2025 Community Calling has again supported a variety of local groups across Leeds, working with 100% Digital Leeds to do so.

Coordinating the offer across Leeds

100% Digital Leeds worked with Community Calling to manage and coordinate the distribution of over 1,000 smartphones to some of 100% Digital Leeds’s delivery partners. 11 community organisations each distributed 50+ phones to their most digitally excluded service users, and they received their deliveries directly from Community Calling. For organisations that wanted to take and distribute a smaller number of phones, 100% Digital Leeds agreed a ‘Hub and Spoke’ model with Community Calling. In this model, 100% Digital Leeds took delivery of 200 phones and delivered them in smaller quantities to 15 community organisations.

We also worked with colleagues in the library service to ensure that some Libraries and Community Hubs could take part in the scheme. The library service received over 150 phones and distributed them through the Jobshops in six Community Hubs and Libraries.

The aim of the Community Calling project was not to distribute smartphones indiscriminately. 100% Digital Leeds wanted to make sure the smartphones would be given to people who needed them, via VCSE organisations that were already working with those people, who knew their individual circumstances, and could offer wider support alongside the gifting of the phone.

Measuring impact

The case studies and testimonials below were collected by 100% Digital Leeds as part of the Community Calling project. They illustrate the breadth and depth of the impact that increasing digital inclusion has on people who are facing multiple challenges in their lives. The case studies and testimonials from some of the organisations that took part in the Community Calling scheme demonstrate the different ways in which digital inclusion is an enabler to achieving wider personal and societal outcomes.

Building from this initial impact, 100% Digital Leeds is working to secure a more sustainable solution to accessing smartphones that will enable each organisation to embed smartphone gifting into their permanent practice.

All Community Connect

All Community Connect is a Community Interest Company established in 2022 and based in Richmond Hill. They provide a foodbank and warm space, and regular community sessions. Across their two centres they support around 150 people each month.

After support from 100% Digital Leeds, digital inclusion support is now a routine part of All Community Connect’s work, with individuals regularly being supported to access emails, complete online forms, book appointments, and use smartphones confidently. By embedding digital support, including smartphone gifting, into their existing activities, the organisation has already seen improvements in confidence and independence. People who previously relied entirely on staff now attempt tasks themselves, ask more specific questions, and engage more fully in other programmes such as arts and crafts and healthy living sessions.

“An individual who regularly attends our sessions did not have access to a working smartphone and relied on staff to manage appointments and benefit updates. Since receiving a phone, they have been able to book GP appointments, access their Universal Credit account, and stay in contact with family independently. This has reduced their reliance on staff and increased their confidence in managing everyday tasks. The beneficiary said “Having my own phone means I don’t have to wait for someone to help me. I can sort things out myself and feel more in control.””

Smartphone beneficiary at All Community Connect

“An older woman who regularly attends our arts and crafts sessions every Wednesday enjoys being creative but often struggles with boredom at home outside these sessions. She wanted to learn new art styles and try more modern, creative ideas, especially to make meaningful Christmas gifts for her grandchildren that they would actually enjoy and use. With access to a smartphone and digital support, she has been able to explore new art trends online, watch tutorials, and get inspiration for creative projects. This has helped her stay mentally active, reduce boredom, and feel more confident creating personalised gifts for her grandchildren.”

Smartphone beneficiary at All Community Connect

Asha Neighbourhood Project

Asha Neighbourhood Project is a charity established in 1985 in Beeston. The organisation aims to improve the lives of women and children living in South Leeds. They support their service users to access services in order for them to live a healthier, happier and more productive life. Asha work to advance education, employment and health. This involves tackling barriers to progression, underachievement and the effects of discrimination and poverty. They do this using a holistic, person-centred approach that brings lots of services together in one inclusive, safe and welcoming setting.

Asha’s IT classes offer support with CV writing, job searches, completing application forms, and researching education and career pathways. Asha were able to provide phones to disabled people and their carers to give them independence, manage their health, find better social connection, and get increased access to essential services and opportunities. Access to technology allowed the beneficiaries to perform daily tasks like online shopping, banking, and managing appointments, reducing their reliance on services, family and friends. They can now access online health information, book GP appointments, order repeat prescriptions, and use apps to manage long-term conditions. It has also helped them to engage with remote consultations, saving on travel time and costs. Carers said the mobiles helped them find general information related to health conditions, access peer WhatsApp support group, and manage tasks like ordering medication, arranging deliveries, and research local services online. Carers report this has helped them feel more informed, saved significant time, and helped them to feel less stressed.

“FB arrived in the UK from Europe few years ago. Recent domestic events led to a breakup in the home, which meant FB became a single mum. Her mobile was old and she couldn’t afford to upgrade, so she struggled going online. We gave her support through the Household Support Fund and a mobile through Community Calling. After gifting FB with a smartphone we were able to support her to apply for everything to be in her name, which covered council tax, benefits, utilities, and transferring the joint tenancy to a sole tenancy. She was also supported to access domestic violence support services. After years of struggling, FB found employment with Leeds City Council as a cleaner. Having a better mobile helped her go online to apply for jobs and register with employment agencies, which would otherwise be inaccessible to her due to poverty.”

Smartphone beneficiary at Asha Neighbourhood Project

AVSED

AVSED is a charity working with older people in the Aireborough area. They work to prevent social isolation and loneliness by supporting happy, healthy and independent living. Many of their members don’t have family nearby so are very isolated.

AVSED have a Digital Befriender who runs a weekly Digital Cafe, as well as visiting members in their home. Through these services members can access support with how to get the most out of their digital device. This includes support with setting up devices, using digital tools to manage health and wellbeing, accessing digital services such as applying for blue badges, and staying in touch with family and friends using digital tools such as Facebook and WhatsApp. AVSED report that gifting smartphones has allowed the organisation to better stay in touch with members, and has supported more members to develop digital skills and confidence.

“AM came to AVSED once or twice a week for support with various elements of life. We offered them a phone to enable them to participate in our digital befriending. They were reluctant at first due to costs, but the chance to try it for free has enlightened them to the possibilities of using digital. They had four sessions with a digital helper to learn how to use the phone. They set up an email and Facebook account, learnt to use Google and find things online, and a session on health and how to book an appointment online with the GP. I have just checked in with them after the break and they told me, ‘It’s great! My sister called me on Boxing Day. I don’t usually speak to anyone!'”

Smartphone beneficiary at AVSED

Carers Leeds

Carers Leeds is an independent charity working city-wide, offering specialist and tailored support, advice, and information to unpaid carers over the age of 16.

The organisation’s digital inclusion aims are to reduce social isolation and loneliness by ensuring all carers can confidently access online resources essential to their caring role and their own wellbeing. Unpaid caring and digital exclusion are both risk factors for loneliness and isolation, so it is important to Carers Leeds that their service users are supported to engage with online activities, support groups, and online services, to prevent poor outcomes and increased isolation from society. Carers Leeds have a Digital Inclusion Coordinator working to integrate digital inclusion support throughout their organisation to ensure staff are confident in having positive conversations about going online, can identify carers with digital inclusion needs, and can support those needs. Gifting smartphones has meant Carers Leeds are more easily able to stay in touch with carers, and carers can be signposted to other organisations who can support them.

“J, aged 54, was relying on a very basic mobile phone and had no internet access at home, which created significant barriers when trying to split a joint Universal Credit claim into a single claim after a bereavement. Being provided with a smartphone has been life changing. It has enabled him to independently access his Universal Credit account, check his journal, and attend appointments, helping to reinstate his claim after several months of little or no income. Following the bereavement, J has also struggled with his mental health, and having the phone has meant he can contact his GP, access mental health support, and stay connected with friends, reducing his isolation and increasing his confidence, independence, and overall wellbeing.”

Smartphone beneficiary at Carers Leeds

Forward Leeds

Forward Leeds offer free confidential alcohol and drug support for people in Leeds. Support includes one-to-one support with a dedicated worker, structured group sessions covering a range of supportive topics, and support for family members and loved ones. Forward Leeds’s Individual Placement and Support Team supports clients who are ready to find paid employment.

Forward Leeds report that gifting smartphones means it is easier for the organisation to stay in touch with service users, and they see improved outcomes as service users experience fewer barriers to accessing support.

“A female service user, aged between 25 and 35, was prohibited from having her own phone by her domestic abuse perpetrator. This created a huge barrier to any engagement with support services. We provided her with a phone to contact Domestic Violence services, police, Forward Leeds, and her family who are also living outside of Leeds. Engagement and access to support has improved substantially and the service user is now able to contact her workers and any relevant services, including emergency services if in need.”    

Smartphone beneficiary at Forward Leeds

“A female service user, aged between 30 and 40, needed a smartphone for video call contact with her children who are both in local authority care and live outside of Leeds. Not having a phone with this facility was massively affecting her and her children’s mental health. The phone also makes it much easier to engage with Forward Leeds and other services.”

Smartphone beneficiary at Forward Leeds

“A service user was given a phone after realising their current phone was not accepting incoming calls and they were missing out on job opportunities. Now the individual has a working phone, they can update their contacts and CV with their new number and can accept calls from prospective employers. This has enhanced their engagement and motivation to find opportunities for work to improve their outcomes and reduce their substance misuse.”

Smartphone beneficiary at Forward Leeds

Give a Gift

Give A Gift is a grassroots charity that aims to provide the support needed to relieve need among refugees, asylum seekers, the destitute, BAME and other disadvantaged communities.

For Give a Gift, gifting smartphones has helped staff to communicate more reliably with service users, resulting in fewer missed appointments and more consistent engagement. Improved digital access has allowed the organisation to run their training programmes more effectively and reach individuals who previously struggled to participate. They spend less time on repeated outreach attempts, freeing staff capacity and allowing teams to focus on delivering higher-quality support. Access to smartphones has enabled smoother coordination, quicker updates, and improved data sharing where appropriate.

“One client is a failed asylum seeker and has been living in the UK for over 20 years. His case is being reviewed by PAFRAS. The elderly client currently has a small old phone which is not a smartphone. He is living in a house with a family who have taken pity on him. His wife and children live in India, and he has very little contact with them. On occasion he is allowed to use one of the smartphones from one of the members of the family to WhatsApp video call his family. When he was given the smart phone, he was very emotional and was so grateful for the help. This lifted his spirits and we saw a smile on his face. He is now teaching himself to use the different features on the phone. We have offered him some support to assist.”

Smartphone beneficiary at Give a Gift

“A domestic violence client fled from an abusive marriage from Birmingham to Leeds. She was rescued by her sister who is married with family in Leeds. She literally came with nothing and was kept like a prisoner in her marital home, looking after her in-laws and her husband and not being able to leave the house. She was desperate to have contact with her mum and dad in Pakistan. The phone was a lifeline for her to finally have some contact with her parents as she had not been allowed to communicate with them. Her mental health was very low and she had to start to build her life. We managed to get her DV concession for three months which allowed her to have access to public benefits and we eventually found a women’s refuge in Bradford who would help and support her to become independent.”

Smartphone beneficiary at Give a Gift

Hamwattan Centre

Hamwattan Centre is a registered charity based in Harehills. They are dedicated to providing support to the elderly community in Leeds, and their service users are primarily of Pakistani and Kashmiri origin. They aim to enable older people to live independently and pro-actively participate within their own communities by providing services which reduce social isolation, relieve financial hardship, and improve health and wellbeing.

Gifting smartphones has had a massive impact on the organisation, increasing their capacity to help service users with their learning in weekly digital skills sessions. They have been able to give the smartphones to people who need them most, and use digital skills sessions as a space for beneficiaries to learn how to use their new smartphones. Hamwattan have used the smartphones to support service users to register for the NHS app and request or manage prescriptions, use Google Translate, and to find trustworthy information online. All of these things benefit the service users in terms of empowering them to take control of their own health and wellbeing, and in turn support Hamwattan by reducing the level of one-to-one support required for basic digital tasks.

“A, aged 72, has been attending our digital skills sessions for some time and has been learning how to use a tablet to increase his digital literacy and make it easier for him to access services and gain independence. He previously had a basic phone which he used only to make phone calls. However, since receiving a smartphone he has been able to learn how to use various apps, including Google Translate, YouTube, and access a number of online services. This has greatly improved his confidence and sense of independence as he is increasingly able to navigate the online world through his smartphone and can now do much more than simply make phone calls.”

Smartphone beneficiary at Hamwattan

Holbeck Together

Holbeck Together is a charity based in Holbeck, providing services to the local community, supporting people to stay socially and physically active, empowering them to make more informed choices and live longer. Holbeck is one of the 0.2% poorest areas in England and is challenged by deprivations in income, employment, education, health, housing, environment, and high crime rates. Holbeck Together provide lunch clubs, walking groups, bingo, friendship groups, parent and baby groups, as well as out-of-hours meal services, a community café, charity shop, food bank, and social supermarket.

Holbeck Together’s digital skills support service includes a range of group and one-to-one sessions at St Matthews Community Centre, and digital skills support in the wider community of Holbeck. Being part of the Community Calling project has allowed Holbeck Together to gift smartphones to vulnerable service users who would otherwise have been unable to afford a digital device.

“S was fleeing domestic abuse and was relocated to Leeds. Her old phone had been destroyed by her partner, and she arrived with no means to communicate with anyone and unable to access any services. She came to the digital hub at Holbeck Together and we were able to gift her with a device and also provide credit and data for her to use. She has now been able to register and bid with Housing and get into contact with other services who can support her. It has also allowed her to contact family members who she had been separated from. This has had a huge positive impact on her wellbeing and has greatly improved her living situation.”

Smartphone beneficiary at Holbeck Together

“E was referred to the digital hub via their support worker as their phone had broken. She had children with complex needs, no money, and no way to contact anybody. With the phone that we gave her she was able to resolve her current situation and get the help she required. She could not afford to replace the broken device and was very happy to get support from us.”

Smartphone beneficiary at Holbeck Together

Joanna Project

Joanna Project is a small charity working with the most vulnerable women in society, often experiencing street homelessness, addiction, mental health, domestic abuse, discrimination, exploitation and isolation. The women they support have chaotic lifestyles and struggle to maintain engagement with services where they have no fixed abode or means of contact with support workers.

Gifting smartphones has helped Joanna Project to maintain contact with service users and ensure continued engagement with available support. This has meant some of the organisation’s most vulnerable service users have been able to access emergency accommodation from the local authority and continue engaging with services and support workers.

“E, aged 25 to 34, is a young female street homeless sex worker with substance addiction and mental health issues. She has been attending Joanna House for support to combat addiction, move away from street sex work, engage with healthcare services and access facilities. She had no phone and family or friend support networks. She is regularly a victim of domestic abuse and crimes as she is extremely vulnerable. She was unable to make and maintain contact with services for interventions due to her chaotic lifestyle, having no fixed abode, and no phone. Since receiving the smart phone and SIM card, she has maintained contact with services, managed to secure emergency accommodation through the council, and is engaging with organisations to access support for substance misuse. She was also attacked whilst working and was able to contact the police. She now has means to contact emergency services or support workers if she needs help, support or advice.”

Smartphone beneficiary at Joanna Project

St George’s Crypt

St George’s Crypt is a 95-year-old charity based in Leeds, working with the homeless, the vulnerable and those living with addiction. The organisation offers immediate practical support in terms of getting fed, cleaned up and clothed. They provide beds via their residential projects and emergency bedrooms, support and counselling, and opportunities to gain skills, self-confidence and a sense of achievement.

St George’s Crypt are still at the start of their digital inclusion journey. Staff have said that seeing the empowerment of the service users to independently re-connect with family and friends after being gifted a smartphone has been very motivating for them, especially around Christmas time. It has given the recipients, and in turn the staff, a real morale boost.

“J, aged 44, resides at our residential temporary accommodation. He has been in and out of temporary accommodation and rough sleeping for years but has taken a step towards more independent living at our temporary accommodation in Chapel Allerton. The phone means he can research subjects he is passionate about such as history. He has been able to contact family members and professionals in his life without relying on our office phone. He can also log into his email and see when his PES vouchers from Universal Credit come in.”

Smartphone beneficiary at St George’s Crypt

“Another service user had no device or money when entering our residential rehabilitation programme. Since receiving the phone, they have been Facetiming their daughter and using the internet in their spare time. They have joined our Growing Rooms WhatsApp group, enabling them to feel more connected to their recovery process. Having a smartphone has improved their connection to both their recovery family and their immediate family.”

Smartphone beneficiary at St George’s Crypt

Unity Housing

Unity Housing Association is an organisation committed to building strong sustainable neighbourhoods through the provision of high quality housing and social and employment opportunities. Unity was formed in 1987 with the aim of building a strong, BME, community housing association to meet the housing needs of black and minority ethnic communities throughout Leeds. They work in the Chapeltown, Harehills, and Beeston areas of Leeds.

Unity Housing’s Employment Team offer a free tailor-made employment service to suit the needs of individuals. They help residents with practical skills such as CV writing and preparing for job interviews, as well as pointing people in the right direction of where to find work. The team run weekly IT skills sessions supporting residents with getting online and using the internet, staying safe online, using email and Office programmes, managing money and health online, and using the internet to find and secure employment. Gifting smartphones has helped Unity Housing to run their digital inclusion courses and job clubs. Learners can access online modules and apply for jobs when they aren’t able to come to one of the sessions in Unity Housing’s Hub. Some residents are unable to attend sessions in person due to issues such as caring responsibilities, but now they can access Unity’s courses from home using their phones.

“D, aged 47, has recently been made redundant. He is looking for work, but he had no phone. He couldn’t access his emails so he was going to the local library, but he was only able to stay a few hours a day. He reached out to the team through the Job Club and was given a phone so he could continue his work search.”

Smartphone beneficiary at Unity Housing

“L, age 32, had recently had her phone stolen. She has a young baby and is a single parent. She didn’t have any means to purchase a new one, her baby was due their injections, and she had no way of contacting her local GP or health visitor. She had previously accessed our services and was learning digital skills whilst pregnant. When she contacted the team she was literally at rock bottom. She had walked five miles so she could use our phones to contact her health visitor as her GP surgery was closed. She can now continue to learn new skills on her Learn my Way account and can keep in regular contact with her GP and health visitor.”

Smartphone beneficiary at Unity Housing

“I honestly don’t know what I would’ve done without this phone. My little girl is due all her immunisations and I couldn’t get hold of my health visitor to ask her the time and date of such appointments. I am still learning IT skills, so this has helped massively. Thank you so much.”

Smartphone beneficiary at Unity Housing

Women’s Health Matters

Women’s Health Matters is a charity that supports disadvantaged and marginalised women and girls across Leeds and surrounding areas through a range of trauma-informed, women-centred services.

Women’s Health Matters’ DigitALL Women Project helps women build confidence and skills to use technology safely and independently. The project provides support to help get women online, stay safe, and make the most of digital tools in everyday life. The project includes a four week digital skills course, building digital confidence by exploring the basics, with particular focus on Google Workspace, staying safe online, including recognising scams and managing privacy settings, and using technology to support wellbeing and employability. The organisation offers one-to-one support for women who would like more individual help, focussing on basic skills, such as setting up email accounts or connecting devices to wifi, and online safety and security, particularly for women experiencing digital abuse. The project also provides access to Chromebooks, tablets, and other devices through a loan bank, helping women gain confidence using devices at home.

Gifting smartphones has had a positive impact on the organisation by improving the continuity of contact with the women they support. Before smartphones were available to issue, if a woman’s phone was broken, taken, or controlled by an abusive partner, Women’s Health Matters were often unable to contact her at all. Many women rely on contact by phone from their service to confirm attendance at group sessions and to arrange transport in order to attend. When contact is lost because of a damaged or controlled phone, there are instances where the organisation can go weeks without speaking to someone, with no indication of why this is. Often, they only become aware of the issues once a woman has been able to replace her phone herself or has attended a group in person to inform staff. Historically, Women’s Health Matters had no way of supporting women to replace their phones, meaning they could not receive service updates or reminders until they were able to replace these phones themselves. Having smartphones available for gifting has allowed the organisation to issue a replacement as soon as they become aware of the problem. This ensures women can remain in contact with services and continue to receive support with minimal interruption during what is often a critical period. The devices have also improved the organisation’s ability to support women who need to flee abusive situations and require a new phone and number to remain safe. Previously, this was not something they could directly assist with. For the women they support who are seeking asylum, access to phones has reduced reliance on intermediaries such as other support workers’ phones. Being able to issue devices directly to women has enabled quicker, clearer communication and fast access to group support. More broadly, access to smartphones has reduced staff time spent attempting to re-establish contact, improved engagement with the women they support and allowed women to contact the organisation between sessions when they need support.

“A woman seeking asylum who attended one of our groups did not have a phone of her own and relied on access to friends’ or support workers’ devices to communicate. This meant she could only make calls or receive messages when she was with a friend or support worker who were able to lend her their phone. As a result, she often missed group sessions because she could not receive updates or reminders directly and instead depended on other group members to pass on information. She also had medical needs and required contact with her GP. Without her own phone, she could only make appointments when she had access to someone else’s device, and she was unable to receive appointment reminders or follow-up information. In some instances, she chose to have her support worker there during calls to ensure she fully understood the conversation, as English is not her first language. When this became apparent, we were able to give her a smartphone and provide support to set it up. She was able to share her new number with her support worker and begin contacting medical services independently, while still accessing support when needed. Having her own phone enabled her to receive appointment reminders, attend group sessions more consistently, and access healthcare more easily.” 

Smartphone beneficiary at Women’s Health Matters

Partner Profile: Purple Patch Arts

Purple Patch Arts is a charity established in 2009 and based in Beeston. Their mission is to provide opportunities for learning-disabled people across Yorkshire to thrive through engagement with innovative, creative lifelong learning.

Purple Patch’s inclusive, person-centred approach focusses on arts and creativity, allowing people of all ages and levels of support needs to access the organisation’s programme in their own way, empowering people to learn in the way that suits them best. This approach makes the organisation particularly well placed to support digital inclusion for its members:

“Digital inclusion is linked in with our definition of learning, engaging with the world. It’s even more relevant now that so much is online and such a big part of people’s lives.”

Róisín Reynolds, Project Coordinator, Purple Patch

Purple Patch has supported the digital inclusion of people with learning disabilities for over a decade, working closely with 100% Digital Leeds since the programme’s launch. Purple Patch were active members of the ALaDDIN network, where they have both shared their best practice and learned from the good practice of other organisations in the sector.

In 2024 Purple Patch received a £10,000 grant via the Leeds Digital Inclusion Fund. The funds supported the embedding of creative digital inclusion interventions across the organisation’s Lifelong Learning Programme for learning disabled people, through staff training, and improved access to digital equipment and resources.

“We’ve got two prongs to our digital inclusion offer. We’re supporting our participants on how to stay safe online and then also using more digital apps and tools in order to make our programmes better and more accessible as well.”  

Róisín Reynolds, Project Coordinator, Purple Patch

Most recently, Purple Patch shared their experience of using arts and culture as a motivator for improved digital skills and confidence with 100% Digital Leeds and The University of Sheffield, supporting the development of the Arts Council England funded Arts, Culture and Older People: Research Project and 100% Digital Leeds Toolkit.

The organisation’s upcoming plans include a focus on staying safe online.

The Purple Patch Approach

Purple Patch use creative activities, inclusive learning methods, and environments that involve and inspire learning-disabled people to engage with learning in a positive and impactful way. This ‘Purple Patch Approach’ supports people to explore ideas, themes and topics in ways which are accessible, imaginative, and joyful. 

All of Purple Patch’s work is delivered using arts-based methods, including music, drama, visual art, movement, and literature. Sessions include elements of group working, multi-sensory activity, gamification, and imaginative discovery. They have found that using the arts and creativity to facilitate learning supports engagement, improves motivation, and helps people to develop analytical and interpretive skills.

Using this approach, Purple Patch can be ambitious in the subjects they cover:

“We don’t see any reason why a person with even the most complex needs can’t engage with any subject, and we see it as our job to bring them to life creatively. In all our work, we enable our participants to be positively challenged and inspired by learning about, and engaging with, the world around them.”

Purple Patch Arts

Learning-disabled people face multiple barriers to digital inclusion. During the Covid pandemic Purple Patch saw 56% of their participants accessing the Zoom sessions that they ran in place of face-to-face delivery. However, they witnessed first-hand the barriers that people faced in accessing an online offer, not least a lack of internet access, digital skills, and equipment. In addition, they saw that a lack of participant and support-network awareness, experience, and confidence in using technology, excluded many participants from their offer. They found that some families and carers were reluctant to believe that digital services were accessible to learning-disabled participants, especially older participants and those with greater access needs.

Developing engaging and accessible digital skills sessions

Purple Patch has supported the digital inclusion of people with learning disabilities for over a decade.

In 2019 Purple Patch was awarded a grant from the Future Digital Inclusion Fund, a five-year programme funded by the Department for Education and managed by Good Things Foundation. The aim of the programme was to help people to improve their digital skills, particularly unemployed and/or low skilled people, as well as people with disabilities and/or learning difficulties.

The funding supported Purple Patch to design and deliver creative, interactive digital skills sessions focussing on what the internet can be used for, how to stay safe online, and being aware of what we’re sharing on social media. Purple Patch used the funding to design fun sessions including creating multi-sensory ‘world-wide webs’ and playing fishing games to learn about phishing. The sessions supported over 250 learning-disabled people to develop the skills needed to more safely engage with the online world.

Evaluation of The Future Digital Inclusion Fund highlights that the fund worked well for many participants because it allowed organisations like Purple Patch to provide person-centred support. Organisations were encouraged to design digital inclusion interventions around individual participants’ needs and personal circumstances, helping participants to develop the motivation needed to become long-term, independent users of digital technology.

Following the end of the funded project Purple Patch continued to strongly encourage their teams to embed digital work within sessions, but varying levels of digital experience and skills across the organisation’s workforce meant this wasn’t consistent. Purple Patch also found that their aging digital equipment meant staff were limited in how much digital they could embed into session delivery.

“We were using digital more, but we didn’t have the tools to do what we wanted. Our iPads were really out of date, so we couldn’t use certain apps that might engage people. In our sessions we have people who don’t have access to online at home, so it was important to get apps that are accessible. We wanted those tools and digital experiences that allow those participants to engage just as much as someone who does understand that world or does have the internet at home.”

Róisín Reynolds, Project Coordinator, Purple Patch

Embedding digital inclusion support into the Lifelong Learning Programme

In 2024 Purple Patch were awarded a grant via the Leeds Digital Inclusion Fund to help them embed digital inclusion support across the organisation’s Lifelong Learning Programme. The grant allowed Purple Patch to maximise its focus on digital inclusion by embedding creative digital inclusion interventions in a strategic and sustainable way through staff training, and improved access to digital equipment and resources.

Purple Patch’s Lifelong Learning Programme supports learning-disabled adults to explore a wide range of different topics based on a yearly theme. Staff use creative methods such as art, drama, music, movement, and multi-sensory activity to make learning fun and accessible. The programme supports participants to develop their confidence, independence, communication, and social skills to improve their wellbeing and to challenge themselves.

Purple Patch see the impact of the sessions in the increased wellbeing, confidence, independence, and life skills of their participants:

  • 86% of Lifelong Learning participants feel more able to try things on their own
  • 95% of Lifelong Learning participants reported learning new skills and things about the world
  • 97% agree that Purple Patch makes them feel more independent

“I feel more confident at Purple Patch because I’ve learned stuff I haven’t before and you encourage me to join in.”

“Coming to Purple Patch makes me feel confident.”

“We learn real life subjects that goes on in the world.”

Participants at Purple Patch Arts

The increased focus on digital inclusion came after consultation with 140 participants of Purple Patch’s Lifelong Learning Programmes. A key theme that emerged was the desire to improve their digital skills. This was taken to the organisation’s Purple Steering Group, a dedicated team of learning-disabled people who act as a bridge between participants of their Lifelong Learning Programmes and their Board of Trustees. The Purple Steering Group use their experiences, skills, and knowledge to help make decisions, give feedback, and advise on best practice. They agreed that digital skills development was a priority, saying that they were at risk of being left behind as more and more services rely on people having digital skills to access them.

“We think it’s really important to incorporate digital in our Lifelong Learning Programmes, as so much of our daily life uses digital. As one of our participants said, ‘I think we should carry on using interactive things [apps], it’s important because the world’s changing and we have to change with it.’”

Róisín Reynolds, Project Coordinator, Purple Patch Arts

Purple Patch’s Lifelong Learning Programmes are run by staff members from a wide range of creative disciplines. Staff were supported to improve their own digital skills through skills share activities and peer support, empowering them to feel confident in enabling participants to benefit from being digitally engaged.

The skills share was facilitated by Purple Patch’s Projects team, who are more experienced in embedding digital skills in their project work having previously designed and delivered the Future Digital Inclusion Fund digital skills sessions. The Projects team created resources and an activity bank for the skills share and continue to support Purple Patch’s wider staff teams as they embed digital in their work. This includes offering feedback on session plans and delivery, and working with staff to further develop their skills as needed. The funding means Purple Patch now have a digital training model that they can use for new staff starters, as well as to refresh existing staff skills and confidence.

Since delivering the above, Purple Patch have observed an increase in the digital activities in their programmes. Staff have used digital equipment to enhance learning activities, for example, using the GarageBand app to create train-inspired soundscapes and the Makey Makey to do exciting scientific experiments. Staff have supported participants to explore technology that can help them call 999, use Google Maps to plan journeys, and understand how to be safe when messaging people online.

As a result, staff and participants have reported an increase in digital confidence:

  • 84% of participants agreed that Purple Patch helps them to feel more confident using digital resources and going online
  • Staff have commented that they had more ideas, felt that they could “give it go!” and that the approach to using technology was “more fun”

Additionally, Purple Patch have learnt that participants want to explore more digital skills, such as creating music and films, learning how to use Zoom, look at recipes online, and learn more about online safety. They feel confident that due to their staff’s increased digital skills and confidence, participants’ digital goals will continue to be supported in their Programmes.

“Embedding digital activity into our approach supports us to challenge common misconceptions about how learning-disabled people can engage with digital technology and the online world. Regularly including digital activity and exploring topics through a digital lens means that we are demonstrating, through our delivery (which may be seen within a session or on social media), that we can empower learning-disabled people to be knowledgeable about the digital world, to navigate it safely, and be digitally confident, rather than being continually digitally excluded due to fear, misconceptions, or externally placed limitations.”

Purple Patch Arts

Supporting people to stay safe online, tackling misinformation and disinformation

Most recently Purple Patch Arts have worked to further embed online safety into their Lifelong Learning Programmes to ensure that learning-disabled people are digitally included and help them gain skills around online safety. They have observed that some participants have experienced negativity online, and that overuse of phones can be damaging to overall wellbeing. Tackling these issues, along with many others, empowers learning-disabled people to understand their rights and choices.

Purple Patch began to tackle misinformation and disinformation through their programming, supporting participants to feel more confident in safely accessing news.

“Research by the BBC found that three quarters of people with a learning disability watch the television, but many found it difficult to follow and nearly half of them said it used too many unfamiliar words. A third said it moved too fast. Others said it contained too much information and jumped between stories without context or was emotionally distressing. It’s really important for us that we can support our participants to know a bit more about the news or feel a bit more confident about accessing the news. So, this year we’ve been trying to bring in more relevant news and information into the topics.”  

Róisín Reynolds, Project Coordinator, Purple Patch

Examples of Purple Patch’s creative approach to supporting online safety and tackling misinformation and disinformation in an engaging and accessible way include:

  • Exploring safe messaging using messages on a slideshow and deciding how and if participants would reply to them.
  • A game exploring what to keep private online and what is okay to share, using padlocks.
  • A game to spot which messages are spam or not, using a tin of spam as a prop.
  • Hosting a ‘Fake News’ TV show, including acting out and presenting different news stories, with the group voting on if they think the story is real or fake.
  • Having a ‘Fake News’ quiz, showing different news images and asking participants to guess if they are real or fake, then supporting participants to use an AI image generator to create their own fake image.

Purple Patch plan to continue this learning in future programming.

“We’re soon to be delivering our Connecting to Robots topic which will be all about technology, and staying safe online. This has been developed after having a lot more younger participants join our programmes and just seeing how they’re more on their phones and maybe need more support with how to stay safe online. So we’ll be tackling more about misinformation and disinformation as well in the robots weeks. And again, we’ll be using the Purple Patch approach to do that. So that means everyone in this space will be able to engage with the kind of learning that’s happening.”

Róisín Reynolds, Project Coordinator, Purple Patch

Róisín Reynolds, Project Coordinator at Purple Patch, explains how the team practically approach tailoring sessions on such a difficult topic to meet the needs of different groups and individual participants:

“We’ll write the scheme of work with all of the activity ideas and topics within the Connecting to Robots theme. We have four delivery staff teams who run our Lifelong Learning Programmes. Each team picks from the scheme of work which specific topics and activities they want to cover in their sessions so they can tailor it to their groups. The group that has quite a lot of younger participants who are on their phones, they might focus more on phone safety and how to have a good relationship with their phone. We want to make it participant focused and make it meaningful for the group that they’re working with. If someone has experienced an issue with online safety, we can work one-on-one with them in terms of giving them resources and things to signpost to as well. We’re not going to touch on a subject that’s difficult for someone, but we might talk to that person rather than do it to the whole group. We can tailor it because the staff teams know the participants in their groups so well, so they’ll know what’s appropriate to cover.”

Róisín Reynolds, Project Coordinator, Purple Patch

Digital support for families and carers

As Purple Patch embed digital inclusion support for participants into their Lifelong Learning Programmes, they also wanted to provide their participants’ families and carers with some additional information, signposting, and ways to continue the digital work covered in the learning sessions. This is especially important since Purple Patch have found that some families and carers can be reluctant to believe that digital services can be accessible to learning-disabled participants, especially older participants and those with greater access needs.

“We also get to know families and carers really well. We offer a holistic approach and with some of our themes we’ve started doing an information sheet that can be sent out to participants and their families and carers. That has resources on it that link to the theme. So when we do Connecting to Robots, we’ll hand out a sheet with online safety resources and activities that participants can do at home with their families and carers as well.”

Róisín Reynolds, Project Coordinator, Purple Patch

Purple Patch also include Digital Support for Families and Carers on their website. This includes information around:

  • Connectivity: Purple Patch is able provide SIMs via the National Databank, and tablets available for loan.
  • Skills: signposting to skills support available via Carers Leeds, Learn My Way, Lloyds digital helpline.
  • Safety: tips for digital privacy and staying safe online.
  • Confidence and motivation: ideas for improving digital confidence by taking small steps to include digital elements in your day-to-day life; an overview of digital tools commonly used in Purple Patch sessions, with examples of how they could be used at home.

Sharing learning and best practice

Purple Patch shared their learning and experience by feeding into  ‘Arts, Culture and Older People: Research Project and Toolkit’, an Arts Council England funded project led by 100% Digital Leeds and the University of Sheffield.

The aim of the research, led by the University of Sheffield, was to explore whether participation in digital arts and culture could serve as an initial first step for older people to become more confident with a broader range of digital tools and services. The study found that engaging in creative activities can build confidence and motivation to help older people engage in essential digital services and stay connected with loved ones. Community-based organisations such as Purple Patch are identified as the most effective partners for digital inclusion due to their local trust

Alongside the research, 100% Digital Leeds has developed a new toolkit to encourage and support greater involvement of arts and culture within digital inclusion programmes. The toolkit is designed to shape and inform the work of organisations in the arts and culture sector, VCSE sector, or digital inclusion sector, helping them to embed digital elements into creative activities, increasing motivation, confidence, and digital inclusion for everyone.

“There’s a massive value in using the arts to support with digital. At Purple Patch we use the arts to learn about ourselves and the world. Because so much of the world now is online, doing an activity and then enhancing it with using a digital app is such an easy way to transition into using digital. If you say ‘now we’re going to do digital’ it might make our members put up some barriers. If you lead it in through doing the arts, then in their own life they’re going to feel more confident about it. ‘OK, so I’ve used that app before so I can use it again or I maybe I can try a new app’.

Purple Patch Arts

Connecting and Protecting Communities: delivering the project

100% Digital Leeds is working in partnership with five third-sector organisations on the Connecting and Protecting Communities project, funded through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF). The organisations working on the project are:

100% Digital Leeds is developing a toolkit of resources, coproduced with the five organisations, that will provide other organisations with the tools to teach online safety and media literacy, including tackling misinformation and disinformation.

The project is underway and each organisation is taking a different approach in their delivery. They are tailoring their sessions, resources, and learning of misinformation and disinformation to be relevant, accessible, and inclusive for their communities.

Afrikindness

Afrikindness works with and supports families and children from African and ethnically diverse communities in Leeds. They identified parents with whom they had existing trusted relationships to take part in the project. Many of the parents had previously expressed concerns about online safety, scams, and misinformation affecting their households. Many also have low digital skills and confidence. Afrikindness wants to build digital skills opportunities into their delivery of the project through the lens of misinformation and disinformation to support digital inclusion within their community.

Tackling misinformation and disinformation is a priority for Afrikindness as many of their families have been affected by online scams, harmful rumours, and culturally targeted false narratives. The organisation knows that diverse communities may be more susceptible to misinformation and disinformation, and it can have a deeper impact, due to: 

  • Language barriers and cultural interpretations of information 
  • Lower trust in institutions 
  • Reliance on peer networks 

Afrikindness has adopted an interactive community learning approach. They chose to deliver their sessions at the Reginald Centre Community Hub in Chapeltown, a trusted location known to the parents. To increase confidence and create an informal, non-judgemental environment they are developing sessions that include opportunities for relationship building and peer-support which include sharing real-life case studies, discussions, and interactive activities. They are embedding digital skills support into the sessions, with exercises on laptops and desktop computers so parents can develop their digital skills and increase their confidence to navigate the internet throughout the course.

Taking a train-the-trainer approach

Afrikindness’s goal for the project is to upskill parents to recognise misinformation and disinformation and to support them to take a train-the-trainer approach, to pass on their learning to their children and share their knowledge to support them.

“We recognise that digital safety is now an essential part of modern safeguarding and parenting. Supporting families today requires more than providing access to devices.”

Bunmi Owolabi, CEO, Afrikindness

For many parents across the Afrikindness community, information often circulates through WhatsApp groups, faith networks, and family and friend groups. Messages shared by these trusted contacts are rarely questioned. As a result, Afrikindness is aware that misinformation can spread quickly and is often believed by many of their community. Without the skills to critically analyse information, parents may unknowingly share harmful content or become victims of scams.

Parents have expressed their concerns around their children accessing misinformation and disinformation as well as their ability to recognise it themselves. This approach will support parents to feel more confident and have greater knowledge of which tools and resources are available to support them in staying safe online and protecting their children online.

“We need the skills ourselves. Our children are advanced online, we don’t know everything they know online, and we want to be confident in helping them, showing them and keeping them safe as well as ourselves”.

Bunmi Owolabi, CEO, Afrikindness

Cross Gates & District Good Neighbours’ Scheme

Cross Gates & District Good Neighbours’ Scheme works with and supports people aged over 60 in Cross Gates and surrounding areas. The organisation has delivered digital inclusion sessions with their community for over six years.

They have previously delivered digital inclusion sessions on the theme of frauds and scams because they have many members who have been scammed and feel very fearful of the internet. They identified members to take part in the project who have some digital skills, are using social media, and are potentially more susceptible to coming across misinformation and disinformation.

Cross Gates & District Good Neighbours’ Scheme know that misinformation and disinformation can have a greater impact on older people due to:

  • Negative impacts on physical health
  • Negative impacts on mental health
  • Financial loss
  • Increasing fear of the online world

“Many of our members believe what they read online to be true, and many have been vulnerable to financial scams. We want to build confidence and skills across our members through this project, equipping each member with their own personal safety plan to avoid them being vulnerable to misinformation and disinformation.”

Samantha Haggart, Digital Inclusion Worker, Cross Gates & District Good Neighbours’ Scheme

Taking a role-play approach

At the most recent vaccine clinic run by Cross Gates & District Good Neighbours’ Scheme, 20% of their members chose to have only one vaccine due to a fear of having two vaccines together. On questioning, the organisation realised these decisions were based on no real evidence or research other than information from a well-meaning friend or relative. This left many service users vulnerable when the flu epidemic hit soon after. 

Cross Gates & District Good Neighbours’ Scheme are taking a role-play approach throughout the Connecting and Protecting Communities project. They are facilitating interactive activities where members can play different characters using scripts. These reflect real-life examples of misinformation and disinformation such as a family WhatsApp group chat or receiving scam letters and emails that look official. Their goal for the project is for their members to be more confident to ‘Stop, Think, and Decide later’, and to be able to make more informed decisions when they receive or access information in future.

They are going to support members to develop their digital skills within the sessions through exercises including:

  • Navigating the NHS website
  • Navigating emails and blocking unknown senders
  • Reviewing privacy settings on social media

Many members have said that they sometimes forget what they have learnt after a course finishes, so Cross Gates & District Good Neighbours’ Scheme are developing a personal safety plan with worksheets, resources, and top tips for members to put their learning into practice between sessions to reinforce learning and refer to after the course.

Damasq

Damasq works with migrants and asylum seekers across Leeds, supporting people in need and promoting cultural and intercultural awareness across communities. They support a wide range of people including families, older people, and many people who are new to the country. Most of their community speak very little or no English.

They have supported many people with digital skills over the past few years and they work to build relationships across their communities to support people to feel safe, comfortable, and confident. Damasq identified people to take part in the project who they felt would benefit most from developing their skills around misinformation and disinformation as many have real life examples where they’ve fallen victim to acting on untrue information online. Language barriers have added extra challenges, as in some cases their service users haven’t sought to verify information or to question it after translation.

Damasq are using a bilingual tutor to deliver their sessions in Arabic, their learners’ first language. They will build in opportunities to translate the information into English throughout the sessions to improve confidence with written and spoken English.   

“There are big challenges with language barriers around trusting information. It’s hard to trust information if you can’t understand the information. Sometimes we are too trusting as the focus is more on translating, rather than questioning the legitimacy of the information.”

Abeer, Course Tutor, Damasq

Taking a cultural approach

Before the project started, many of Damasq’s service users shared information they have received and accessed via social media groups which was misinformation and disinformation. Damasq is taking a cultural approach to delivering the project, tailoring the learning to their service users’ needs and ensuring it is relevant and appropriate. They are focusing on four key themes:

  • Minority beliefs
  • Building confidence
  • Staying safe from scams
  • Accessing accurate health information online

Damasq are using culturally specific examples of misinformation and disinformation in their sessions, such as examples of Islamophobia disinformation shared on social media, and misinformation about Home Office regulations and updates shared on closed migrant community Facebook groups. Many of their service users’ families in other countries have seen these examples online and have been worried and stressed for their families. They have said that within their culture it is seen as impolite to question or challenge information that looks like it is from an authority figure or an important source.

“Good people within our culture don’t question or challenge anything from authority because we would always trust authorities.”

Damasq service user

Damasq will include practical top tips throughout the sessions for building confidence in questioning and verifying information, supporting clients to fact check rather than assuming authority and therefore trusting, sharing and acting on that information.

Connect in the North

Connect in the North work with adults with a learning difficulty or / and autism across Leeds, delivering a range of support including digital inclusion sessions. They support people with learning difficulties to have control of their own lives and have equal power in the world. They use the words ‘people with a learning difficulty’ rather than ‘people with a learning disability’ because many of their members prefer this.  

Connect in the North identified members aged 30 to 60+ to take part in the Connecting and Protecting Communities project. They held a launch event where they shared more information about the project, the themes they intended to cover, and the benefits of taking part in the course. The organisation knows that many of the people they work with are very scared of being scammed, and some have been victims of romance and financial scams. Their service users are regularly exposed to misinformation and disinformation online, especially via social media platforms and dating sites. Family, friends, and carers have expressed their worries about this, and that can increase the fear of being online for the person with the learning difficulty. Connect in the North invited support workers into the sessions to increase peer support and to enable reinforcement of the learning outside of the sessions.  

“We know many people we’re working with are scared of being scammed. Family and friends have scare mongered people and they have really appreciated us supporting them to build confidence and awareness of how to identify a scam and stay safe online, so it doesn’t stop them from doing the things they want to do online”.

Sarah, Learning and Development Manager, Connect in the North

Taking a Gamification approach

Connect in the North are taking a gamification approach to delivering their sessions, hosting them in an informal space at their office service users are familiar with and where they feel comfortable. This approach builds games, quizzes and informal group activities into each session around the themes of misinformation and disinformation. The sessions use real-life examples such as:

  • Catfishing on dating websites
  • Buying fake products online
  • AI fake images and videos
  • Influencer culture

Each activity is group-based to increase opportunities for engagement and social interactions, as well as building a fun element into the sessions. This is because the topic of misinformation and disinformation can be quite distressing for people with a learning difficulty or / and autism.

“We find sessions delivered in a group setting work best for people living with a learning difficulty, as it takes the pressure off the person and encourages peer support, which creates more of a fun, energetic environment to learn in.”

Sarah, Learning and Development Manager, Connect in the North

Connect in the North conducted a pre-course questionnaire to assess members’ digital skills needs to tailor the sessions in the right way, and to build effective digital skills support into the sessions. These skills included:

  • Deleting scam and unwanted emails and blocking unknown email senders
  • Setting up parental controls on devices, as many service users said it would help them feel safer online
  • Looking at accessibility settings on devices
  • Navigating social media safely

Leeds Irish Health and Homes

Leeds Irish Health and Homes work with and support older people with Irish Heritage across Leeds. They have delivered digital inclusion sessions within their community for over five years.

They previously delivered digital inclusion sessions as part of the BOSS project. Many service users said they needed more support around scams and staying safe online as they feel embarrassed that their grandchildren know more about being online than they do. The organisation was keen to provide their service users with more information about current scams and AI, and to make them aware of tools to help them identify misinformation and disinformation.

Many of Leeds Irish Health and Homes’ service users said they read information quickly and feel like they need to act fast when receiving emails and texts, which increases their fear and stress. Many also said that they have been quick to share information they read online, and they would like to learn how to fact check information. Leeds Irish Health and Homes identified service users who had previously attended their digital inclusion sessions to build upon their digital skills support through the lens of misinformation and disinformation.

Taking a Highway Code approach

Leeds Irish Health and Homes are taking a Stop, Think, and Verify approach in delivering the Connecting and Protecting Communities project. They want to build confidence and skills to recognise misinformation and disinformation, and tailor the learning to their service users’ needs. They are introducing a ‘Digital Highway Code’ by using real-life examples of misinformation and disinformation to equip clients with the skills they need.

“A lot of our service users are very active on Facebook, and many have said they wouldn’t dream of questioning the information they are presented with there. They read it and believe it. In the past they may have got their news from traditional newspapers or television and believed what they were told first hand. We want to make them aware that the landscape of news has changed and that now we need to explore a little bit more about where our news is coming from and stop, think, and verify before taking something as true.”

Anne Pearce, Digital Inclusion Officer, Leeds Irish Health and Homes.

Leeds Irish Health and Homes are using the FIRST approach in their sessions to help their members to follow the Digital Highway Code. They are also developing resources and worksheets that their members can take away to reinforce their learning after the course.

The FIRST approach:

F – Fake – Could this be false, misleading, or edited?

I – Identity – Who is this from? Can I check this?

R – Reaction – Does it make me angry, emotional, or sad?

S – Source – Where is this information from?

T – Timing – Is this current or old news?

“We want to support clients to think about who wrote this information, is the source trustworthy? Does it seem designed to upset or trick me? And encourage them to pause, stop, and think before sharing.”

Anne Pearce, Digital Inclusion Officer, Leeds Irish Health and Homes.

Next Steps

Delivery of the Connecting and Protecting Communities sessions is now underway across all five organisations. 100% Digital Leeds is attending the sessions to capture the learning and collate the resources that have been developed and used by each organisation. This will feed into the development of the Connecting and Protecting Communities toolkit that will be published in early summer 2026.

On 18 March 2026, 100% Digital Leeds is presenting to Leeds City Council Infrastructure, Investment and Inclusive Growth Scrutiny Board on the progress of this project.  

In response to the Connecting and Protecting Communities project Lee Edwards, Professor in the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science has approached 100% Digital Leeds to take part in their research project ‘UK Media Literacy Sector Analysis’ which will be published later this year.

100% Digital Leeds will publish another blog update on the impact of the project when all delivery has finished in April 2026.

Work and Health Trailblazer: Digital Inclusion Personal Incentives 

The Department for Work and Pensions Work and Health Trailblazer Programme was targeted at areas of the country with the highest levels of economic inactivity, enabling local leaders to give those furthest from employment the tools to get into work. West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) awarded over £800,000 to Leeds City Council to deliver pre-employment support to people who are economically inactive for health reasons. This funding was managed by the council’s Employment and Skills team.  

Employment and Skills awarded grant funding of over £700,000 to 17 Voluntary, Community, and Social Enterprise (VCSE) organisations to support residents progressing towards employment, by providing integrated health support alongside employment support.  

For some of the people who were taking part in the Trailblazer, digital exclusion was identified as an extra barrier to them succeeding on the programme. WYCA worked with 100% Digital Leeds to design a ‘Digital Inclusion Personal Incentives’ initiative to offer additional support to those people. Six organisations in Leeds delivered the Digital Inclusion Personal Incentives initiative, supporting 80 people who were already part of the Trailblazer programme.

“I think we’re really missing something in terms of general equity if we don’t consider digital inclusion as part of the Trailblazer. This is a core element of how we’re going to see impact going forwards.”

Ethan Foster, Services Manager – Economic Inclusion, Leeds Mind 

Background to the Digital Inclusion Personal Incentives initiative 

As more services move online, it becomes harder for people who are digitally excluded to manage their health conditions and apply for work. WYCA worked with 100% Digital Leeds to design a ‘Digital Inclusion Personal Incentives’ initiative to offer additional support to those people.

100% Digital Leeds used the principles of the successful Multiply project, which we also delivered in partnership with Employment and Skills, as the basis of the Personal Incentives initiative. Multiply enabled 100% Digital Leeds to award funding to 19 of our VCSE delivery partners so that they could design and deliver personalised digital inclusion interventions for the people they work with. This included gifting a digital device with connectivity to all of the project participants, to increase their digital inclusion and make it easier for them to continue their learning after the project ended.  

The overarching objective of the Personal Incentives initiative was to learn from people with lived experience and system partners to co-design an approach to employment support that responds to an individual’s needs and circumstances.  

The Digital Inclusion strand of the Personal Incentives initiative aimed to: 

  • Remove digital barriers to employment and skills provision by providing internet connectivity and free devices, such as mobile phones, laptops and tablets, where a VCSE organisation has identified a need among the people they support. 
  • Build digital confidence through digital skills training.  
  • Enable residents to access online health provision and other resources as they make progress towards and into good work.  
  • Test innovative approaches to digital inclusion support that can be scaled and replicated across West Yorkshire.  
  • Generate evidence of the effectiveness of digital inclusion support in facilitating transitions to employment.  
  • Co-design solutions with residents and local authorities to ensure interventions are locally relevant and responsive.  

Intended outcomes for the initiative included:  

  • More people with improved health and wellbeing  
  • More people with an increased awareness of adult education, skills training, employment support programmes or work  
  • More people with digital access  
  • More people with increased confidence in using digital technology 

Tracy Brabin, the Mayor of West Yorkshire, launched the Digital Inclusion Personal Incentives initiative with £250,000 of funding to increase digital inclusion across West Yorkshire. In partnership with GIPSIL, 100% Digital Leeds arranged the launch at The Old Fire Station in Gipton. GIPSIL also arranged for some of their service users to speak to the Mayor to explain the positive impact of digital inclusion on their employment prospects and their health and wellbeing.  

“Too many people in West Yorkshire are locked out of opportunity because they can’t get online or don’t have the skills they need to confidently use the internet. That isn’t fair on people and isn’t healthy for our economy. Today’s funding means more people will get a device and hands-on support to build their confidence – so they can find good jobs, access training, manage their health, and connect with the essential online services that make everyday life easier.” 

Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire 

Designing the Digital Inclusion Personal Incentives initiative  

The Digital Inclusion Personal Incentives strand of the Trailblazer proposed a digital inclusion fund for VCSE organisations across West Yorkshire to provide digital inclusion support to residents who are furthest away from the labour market. This West Yorkshire-wide offer was designed and delivered in collaboration with the Digital Inclusion West Yorkshire programme. It was agreed that 100% Digital Leeds would take the lead on this work, sharing our experience and expertise with the other councils in the region.  

The agreement with WYCA stated that 100% Digital Leeds would “identify a small number of delivery organisations in their area who are already reaching people from the target audience (i.e. evidenced as having the greatest levels of digital exclusion and economic inactivity), and who can respond rapidly and effectively to this funding opportunity”.  

100% Digital Leeds worked with six of the VCSE organisations that were already delivering the wider Trailblazer programme. For the Digital Inclusion Personal Incentives initiative, it was important that the organisations already had a strong digital inclusion offer in place so that they could respond quickly to meet the funding requirements.  

“We did a home visit to one of the people we were working with. They’ve barely been in school since Year 9 and they don’t have much money – they didn’t even have the central heating on at this time of year. But they’ve got quite a clear goal of wanting to go into midwifery and working towards that with college courses and things. Obviously, they couldn’t afford a computer or anything like that. So the laptop they were given through this project is going to really help them.”

Bill Owen, Operations Director, Employability and Community Health, Barca 

VCSE organisations were required to:  

  • Buy and gift each learner a digital device (phone, tablet or laptop) with 12 months of unlimited data to continue their learning and increase their digital inclusion. 
  • Design and deliver a minimum of five hours of personalised learning and digital inclusion support to each individual in receipt of equipment. Delivery organisations had to work with individuals from priority groups to understand what their personal barriers are, and work with them on an individual basis, tailoring support to their needs.   
  • Complete and return all evidence required by WYCA. 
  • Provide case studies to illustrate the impact of the initiative. 

Importantly, the funding was also intended to build capacity and increase provision at community organisations who are not traditional learning providers.  

Delivering the initiative 

Six organisations in Leeds delivered the Digital Inclusion Personal Incentives initiative, supporting 80 people who were already part of the Trailblazer programme. The organisations were:  

Each organisation designed their digital inclusion offer to meet the needs of the people they were supporting. The digital equipment that the organisations bought and gifted to their participants was also tailored to meet individual need.  

“Every participant is matched with a volunteer and that volunteer will meet with them on a weekly basis to support them. Quite a few of the people we’re working with have very, very limited English, so one of our strands has been English teaching. Then we’re working with other people who are maybe a little bit closer towards looking for work. For some of them, we’ve been working on CV writing workshops or looking at using LinkedIn and different things like that. One of the gentlemen we’re supporting is registered blind, so we’re taking a bit longer to make sure we get the right equipment for him.”

David Skivington, Senior Project Manager, Leeds Asylum Seekers Support Network 

“One of the women we’re working with has been out of work for over 15 years due to her disabilities. She’s got learning disabilities so reading’s quite difficult for her. The digital equipment we got for her has the right software to help her with that. Now she’s managed to complete a safeguarding course and food safety training with our support, and she’s just gone on to be one of the volunteers for our food pantry.”

Eve Maloba, Project Lead, Complete Woman  

The Digital Inclusion Personal Incentives initiative runs to the end of March 2026. The VCSE organisations that are delivering the initiative are already seeing the positive impact on the health and wellbeing and employment prospects of the people they support.  

“This has been instrumental in supporting people’s employment goals. One individual was borrowing a laptop, and the equipment was just really poor. They found it to be a massive barrier to entry into what they’re able to do. So having equipment that actually works and is theirs has been instrumental with employment goals. It’s been really, really impactful so far.”

Ethan Foster, Services Manager – Economic Inclusion, Leeds Mind 

“This has put smiles on people’s faces. They don’t expect this equipment. A lot of the people that we support have been given a rough deal, and the equipment that we’re giving them is massive for us as an organisation. It shows our commitment and our support for them, and then the engagement we get back from that is amazing. It’s been fantastic to give someone that level of investment.”

Louise Forrest, Director of Partnerships & Development, GIPSIL 

Connecting and Protecting Communities: coproducing a toolkit for tackling misinformation and disinformation

100% Digital Leeds has launched a new project that will see the coproduction of a bank of resources that organisations can use to teach online safety and media literacy, including tackling misinformation and disinformation.

Financed by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), Connecting and Protecting Communities aims to give organisations the tools they need to support people and communities to develop the transferable skills needed to spot and be critical of misinformation and disinformation in all contexts, including:

  • Minority beliefs: disinformation created with the intent to cause harm or to stir up hatred against a person or group.
  • Misinformation and disinformation in health: misleading health advice on topics such as vaccines, reproductive health, and disease outbreaks.
  • Scams: examples include charity donation fraud, romance scams, tech support scams, prize scams, and WhatsApp impersonation.

The development of a toolkit builds upon learning and best practice from 100% Digital Leeds’s work on the Be Online Stay Safe project led by Leeds Older People’s Forum, and Multiply, delivered in partnership with Leeds City Council’s Employment and Skills service. The Connecting and Protecting Communities toolkit will focus on the principles of tailoring learning for improved online safety, media literacy, and tackling misinformation and disinformation to meet the needs of different communities. The toolkit will be a guide for organisations, increasing their confidence to discuss misinformation and disinformation with their service users in a way that is meaningful and effective.

Coproduction with local third sector partners

100% Digital Leeds has partnered with five community organisations to understand how they tailor media literacy messaging and learning delivery to resonate with, and be accessible and engaging for, particular communities.

Each of the chosen partner organisations support different communities of interest, including low-income families, people with learning disabilities, older people, and migrants.

Each partner organisation has designed a bespoke course to be delivered to 10 of their service users. 100% Digital Leeds is observing course delivery to gather learning and insights to feed into the development of a toolkit. The courses are already seeing people develop awareness of misinformation and disinformation, and the skills and confidence to be more critical.

“I’m a very impatient person, life is crazy as a busy mum, we see things, we act quick because time is of the essence in life generally. My brain tells me something is true or I have an impulse to share it immediately with someone, I struggle to stop and think before I act. This course has taught me to stop, pause, think, check with someone else, slow down, not act quick and be more patient”.

Learner at Afrikindness

Project background

100% Digital Leeds reports to the Leeds City Council Infrastructure, Investment and Inclusive Growth Scrutiny Board on an annual basis to update on the progress of the digital inclusion programme. In the previous meeting the chair of the board asked the team to return with an enhanced focus on the role of online misinformation and disinformation in light of the riots of 2024 and the increased polarisation and radicalisation of elements of society via online platforms and tools.

Ofcom’s 2024 report Understanding misinformation: an exploration of UK adults’  behaviour and attitudes provides evidence of how UK adults think and feel about “false or misleading” information: where they see it, why they think it’s false or misleading, and what they do and feel as a consequence. 

  • 49% of social media users have seen a deliberately misleading news story in the last 12 months.
  • 45% of UK adults felt confident judging the truthfulness of online sources.
  • 33% of UK adults are not confident judging whether an image, audio or video has been created by AI.
  • 90% of those who encounter misinformation say they are concerned about its societal impact.

100% Digital Leeds has received feedback from partner organisations working in communities across the city that financial scams and romance scams, for instance, are more prevalent and sophisticated. Many people lack the digital skills and confidence to recognise such scams, with some falling victim to them. As well as negatively impacting on the individuals, this impacts on partner organisations who then have to  support people through crises, often requiring intensive work to redress the situation.

Next steps

Delivery is underway, with 100% Digital Leeds in attendance to gather learning and insights to feed into the development of a toolkit. 100% Digital Leeds will continue to share blog updates as the project progresses. The finished toolkit is expected to be published by early summer 2026.

Connecting and Protecting Communities: delivering the project – 100% Digital Leeds

Partner Profile: Anshlah and Happiness Clinic

Anshlah is a grassroots organisation supporting migrant women with young children. Based in SHINE in Harehills, Anshlah work to raise aspirations and provide opportunities to the women they support. Anshlah’s members experience a range of barriers that make accessing services and support more difficult. These include digital exclusion, English as an additional language, literacy needs, cultural considerations, social isolation, poverty, and lack of access to childcare. The constituted group is run by volunteers, who as migrant women and mothers themselves, experience the same barriers as the group’s members.

100% Digital Leeds has supported Anshlah to form a partnership with Happiness Clinic, a Community Interest Company based in Bramley, working with women and children, with expertise in both early years childcare and digital skills delivery.

With funding and support from Leeds-based digital delivery consultancy business Axiologik, the partnership saw Anshlah and Happiness Clinic working together on a pilot project aimed at providing digital skills support alongside childcare.

“I’m now confident about being online, I can recognise scams better and I can check what numbers are calling me so I know if they are potential scams or not. I can protect my personal information and my money better. The childcare is so important, while my daughter is supervised and supported I can do the sessions.”

Anshlah member

Embedding digital inclusion support into Anshlah’s existing offer

Anshlah’s volunteers and members are keen to develop their digital skills and confidence so they can more easily access statutory services, navigate online health support, access opportunities for education and learning, and find employment once their children are at school. Connectivity is also a factor, as both volunteers and members struggle to afford access to digital equipment such as smartphones, and reliable connectivity.

100% Digital Leeds worked with Anshlah to identify a range of national and local partners who could support their digital inclusion offer. Anshlah were supported to register with Good Things Foundation’s National Digital inclusion Network through which they were able to join the National Databank, allowing them to gift SIM cards with free 4G data, calls, and texts to their members with smartphones. 100% Digital Leeds signposted the group to Leeds Libraries’ Tablet Lending Scheme where they could borrow iPads to use with members in their sessions, alongside digital learning resources developed by Leeds Older People’s Forum’s Be Online Stay Safe project.

Anshlah’s volunteers struggled to offer members digital skills support due to their own low digital skills and confidence. 100% Digital arranged for a UKSPF-funded Digital Inclusion Officer from Voluntary Action Leeds to deliver digital skills support during Anshlah’s regular sessions. The Officer trialled offering digital skills support as part of the group’s existing weekly sewing sessions. This had limited success because, although their members were expressing a need for continued support with their digital skills, almost every attendee came with one or more pre-school aged child, and members were unable to properly engage with learning whilst also looking after their children. Attempting to delivering digital learning in this way demonstrated the need for a different setting for the digital sessions, and more support for childcare.

“The support for the kids has helped the ladies a lot. Without the childcare it’s impossible for the ladies to attend the session because the children stop them from doing their work. They always need childcare but most of them aren’t eligible. They need support to do anything because with their children they can do nothing.”

Anshlah volunteer

Working in partnership with Happiness Clinic

Happiness Clinic is a Community Interest Company based in Bramley that works with women and children offering playgroups and volunteer opportunities, with expertise in early years childcare and an interest in supporting women and families. The organisation has a background in digital inclusion, having previously provided digital support for people accessing HM Courts & Tribunals Service – criminal, civil and family courts. Happiness Clinic is keen to develop their offer to support women with pre-school aged children into employment in a way that works for them alongside their family responsibilities.  

100% Digital Leeds introduced Anshlah to Happiness Clinic to see how they might work in partnership, bringing their own expertise to support and enable each other’s priorities. This saw Happiness Clinic providing their childcare expertise, knowledge of early years teaching, and experience of delivering digital skills support, and Anshlah bringing their knowledge and understanding of, and trusted relationship with, their members. Both organisations share similar values and priorities for their communities, are passionate about supporting women and families to develop their skills and thrive, and have an interest in supporting digital inclusion.

As Happiness Clinic are a Community Interest Company, they are eligible for a wider range of funding opportunities than Anshlah. The nature of Anshlah’s legal set up and constitution means the organisation is unable to access the majority of available funding opportunities, which require organisations to be charities or registered groups. Happiness Clinic can also hold a larger amount of funding within their accounts as they don’t have the same annual limits on their income as Anshlah. A partnership between the two organisations means that they would be eligible to apply for a broader range of funding opportunities.

Social value support from Axiologik

Axiologik is a Leeds-based digital delivery consultancy business, delivering digital transformation for organisations including the NHS and the Home Office. The business approached 100% Digital Leeds with an offer of social value support for VCSEs delivering digital inclusion initiatives, with a particular interest in supporting women. Axiologik offered to support two VCSE organisations with a small grant, as well as skills and capacity via the business’s Employer Supported Volunteering scheme.

“At Axiologik, we believe that digital confidence is a foundation for opportunity, and it’s essential that no one is left behind. Supporting Anshlah and the Happiness Clinic through this family-focused project has shown the power of creating safe, accessible spaces where women can build skills at their own pace. Seeing participants grow in confidence, while knowing their children were cared for and happy, has been incredibly rewarding for our team. We’re proud to play a small part in strengthening digital inclusion in our communities and to support organisations who are making a real, lasting difference in people’s lives.”

Axiologik

With financial support from Axiologik, Anshlah and Happiness Clinic worked in partnership to design and deliver a test and learn project exploring how Anshlah’s members could be supported to develop their digital skills and confidence whilst their children were being entertained elsewhere.

A family approach to supporting digital skills and confidence

With support and guidance from 100% Digital Leeds, Happiness Clinic and Anshlah designed a six-week digital skills course based on the needs of Anshlah’s members, identified via a member survey.

Support needs identified included:

  • The NHS platform – online bookings and prescriptions
  • Form filling
  • Making job applications
  • Email writing
  • Online learning
  • Online safety

Leeds Libraries’ Compton Centre Community Hub provided the learning space for free, giving the eight participants access to a bank of computers so that each person could work at their own device. The venue was accessible to all of the participants, within walking distance for school drop off, and was also a friendly space that most of the members and their children had already visited and were familiar with.

Happiness Clinic led on delivery of the digital skills sessions while staff from both organisations shared the work of supporting the digital learners and entertaining the children in the children’s section of the library.

The six sessions consisted of the following topics:

  • Course introduction, basic digital skills, library card application
  • How to set up an email account, send and receive emails, and attach files
  • How to complete online documents and forms
  • How to identify online scams and fraud
  • How to find work online and make a CV
  • How to use the NHS app

Volunteers from Axiologik’s Employee Volunteering Programme attended one of the sessions, delivering a session around CV writing with the participants. The final session was celebratory, with all participants bringing food and reflecting on their progress and what a difference the opportunity had made to their confidence and skills with digital.

Impact for Anshlah’s members

Many of the participants said that while they had a lot of skills, knowledge and qualifications in their home countries they felt like they were starting again from the beginning in the UK. During the job and CV session, members learned about applying for job opportunities and were shown job sites and how to write a CV, increasing their confidence in their own abilities and showing them how to use digital tools to boost their employability.

“Overall the course has been wonderful. It’s so beneficial for me. Most of my peers don’t know how to send an email or make a CV or other digital things and they are missing out. I am looking forward to improving my digital skills and to go on to more advanced IT learning. I want a professional job here in the UK and everything needs digital skills. In the Sudan everything was on paper rather than digital. I want to go into accounting, so I need to improve my skills.”

Anshlah member

Participants spoke about how important it was for them to be able to correctly identify scam phone calls online, where they could check to see if calls were legitimate or not, which gave them peace of mind that they hadn’t missed important information. They also talked about being able to access accurate health and medication information online which gave them the language and confidence to be able to communicate effectively with their GP.

All of the participants wanted the sessions to continue and were disappointed that the course had come to an end.

“I really liked the scammer session. We used a website where you could put the phone number in and it tells you if it’s likely to be a scam. I also really liked the NHS app as normally I would check on Google for symptoms for myself and my children and it often isn’t very accurate. The accurate one is the NHS website. I can also look up more information about medication in the A-Z bit of the website so when I go to the doctor I have more information to tell them about my symptoms and to understand what the medicine will do. It’s important to me to be able to have the information I need because English isn’t my first language, so I struggle with the terminology. It means that I’m more likely to be listened to.”

Anshlah member  

       

Impact for Happiness Clinic and Anshlah and next steps

Both Happiness Clinic and Anshlah gained valuable experience from the project, with both organisations expressing a desire to continue to work together and learn from each other on future digital inclusion projects.

“So much more work went into the sessions than we had anticipated: keeping track of attendees, making evaluation forms, making and maintaining relationships with the participants on an individual basis, and finding out how everything is going for them. The work that Anshlah did communicating with their members is invaluable. They have such a good understanding of their group. We have worked so well together, and I would like to keep that relationship and partnership going.”

Happiness Clinic

The organisations are keen to apply for further funding as a partnership. The digital inclusion project has evidenced the need for digital support which includes an element of childcare for both Anshlah and Happiness Clinic’s community, with many of the participants and volunteers emphasising how essential the childcare element was for them to be able to concentrate on their skills development.

“I would like to do more sessions as it has been so useful. It has been great to have the childcare, this has been the only group that I have been to that has provided childcare. I am learning, I don’t have to worry about my child.”

Anshlah member

Lessons learned from the test and learn project means that future programme applications will take into account the need for a separate space to entertain the children, as the children’s library was too much of an open space which proved to be difficult to keep all of the children safely entertained. 100% Digital Leeds and both organisations are speaking to Leeds Libraries to access appropriate space for future funding bids.

Delivering the project also highlighted the importance of hands-on volunteers to support the learning of the participants and how valuable going forward a relationship with an organisation like Axiologik with their Employee Volunteering Programme is for a digital inclusion programme.

Axiologik will continue their relationship with both organisations and are happy to provide additional support for future digital inclusion projects including volunteers through their Employee Volunteering Programme and materials and resources.

“I’ve not found anything as rewarding as this. The personal impact that I can have on these women one on one and see them learn has made such a difference to me. The first week there were language barriers and Google wasn’t working and it was a mess, but by the third week the ladies were bringing food and really appreciating each other and the learning.”

Happiness Clinic

Partner Profile: New Wortley Community Centre

New Wortley Community Centre is a community-owned and community-led centre located in New Wortley, an inner-city area of West Leeds. A long-standing asset to the community, the centre opened in 1982 and is managed by New Wortley Community Association, a membership group that works to improve the area and the lives of people living in LS12. The centre provides support to residents and offers a range of services, groups and activities to empower them to lead happier and healthier lives.

As members of Leeds Community Anchor Network, New Wortley Community Association worked with Leeds Anchor Network and other partners on several Listening Exercises and focus groups to help deepen understanding of the practical and emotional challenges residents face when looking for work.

With the support of 100% Digital Leeds, the feedback from these sessions directly informed the design of a range of interlinked activities at New Wortley Community Centre, achieved through coproduction and collaboration, with digital inclusion support embedded throughout.

“Working with 100% Digital Leeds has been crucial to the success of the HOPE project at the community centre. Setting up a designated IT suite and the provision of laptops and tablets has enabled us to provide drop-in and one-to-one support for those who need it most.”

Centre Manager, New Wortley Community Centre

Community Listening Exercises

Through their role in Leeds Community Anchor Network on behalf of Armley Community Anchor Network, New Wortley Community Association were involved in feeding into Voluntary Action Leeds’s Good Jobs, Better Health, Fairer Futures report, along with fellow community anchors Give a Gift and LS14 Trust (on behalf of We Are Seacroft).

This feedback on barriers to employment and development opportunities was gathered in 2023 via Listening Exercises involving local people. One of the main barriers was the lack of digital access, skills, and confidence that residents faced.

“In one group, it was stated that 50% of people in the room do not have access to the internet either due to cost or not understanding how to use it, representing multiple barriers that caused digital exclusion for communities. Digital exclusion is a significant barrier to securing good jobs and requires support for community members to gain confidence in navigating the internet and resources in order to regularly access wifi and technology in general.”

Good Jobs, Better Health, Fairer Futures report, June 2023

100% Digital Leeds became involved with Leeds Community Anchor Network after the initial report, meeting with partners to discuss findings in more depth. One of these partners was New Wortley Community Centre, and a further focus group, attended by 100% Digital Leeds and Leeds City Council’s Employment and Skills team, was held in August 2024 to unpick the report’s findings and to better understand how to overcome the barriers faced by many community members.

The contributions from people emphasised the systemic disadvantages that cause so much digital exclusion. In addition, the Listening Exercise highlighted a significant barrier to employment for culturally diverse communities in New Wortley. Whilst many individuals could speak English conversationally, they lacked the literacy, numeracy, and digital skills needed to complete job applications and succeed in recruitment processes.

“Diverse communities can speak English very well but can’t necessarily write it or read it as well. So when it comes to applying for a job they don’t really know where to start. They don’t necessarily have the digital tools… but even if you give them the digital tools, they don’t know how to use them.”

New Wortley Community Association

Leeds Ambitions include thriving, strong communities that are more resilient and cohesive. Several partners described the Listening Exercises project as a catalyst for closer collaboration and more joined-up service delivery.

“Working together with 100% Digital Leeds and New Wortley Community Centre has fostered a collaborative environment and helped deliver wraparound support that is improving outcomes for the community in an enhanced way.”

Employment & Skills Advisor, Leeds City Council

Digital inclusion support at New Wortley Community Centre

IT suite

With UK Shared Prosperity Funding secured through the 100% Digital Leeds programme, New Wortley Community Association refurbished its IT suite and acquired laptops and tablets. This aligned well with their goal of improving digital access for residents.

Conversation Club

Initiated by New Wortley Community Association as a direct response to the Listening Exercise and focus group, the Conversation Club provides a safe, women-only space for people to practise English. It has since grown to include two levels, Beginner and Intermediate, and is now a valued, long-running part of New Wortley Community Association’s weekly programme.

Progression support

New Wortley Community Association adapted an existing role into a diverse Communities Support Worker post, enabling one-to-one support with job searches, CV writing, training opportunities and volunteering. This flexible model ensures that people are supported at their own pace.

Weekly jobs advice drop-in

Leeds City Council’s Employment and Skills team now delivers a regular Monday drop-in session, having scaled up from a previously underused monthly service. This increase in provision followed the success of early engagement and recognition of local demand.

HOPE (Helping with Opportunities to Prepare for Employment)

New Wortley Community Centre partnered with 100% Digital Leeds and Employment and Skills to design a support offer to be delivered directly within the community. The collaboration brought together digital inclusion expertise, employment guidance, and trusted community spaces to create accessible pathways to opportunity.

The partnership established dedicated weekly sessions at the community centre, offering:

  • Free digital skills training covering everything from basic computer literacy to job application support.
  • One-to-one employment support including CV writing, interview preparation, and career guidance.
  • Device access and connectivity for residents without technology at home.

By locating services within the familiar, trusted community centre environment, the programme eliminated traditional barriers such as travel costs, childcare challenges, and the confidence required to access formal training settings.

“35 residents engaged with the programme, with nine of them securing employment or progressing into further training. One participant, previously long-term unemployed, gained essential digital skills and, with support from an Employment and Skills advisor, secured a position as a Customer Service Assistant with Leeds City Council.

The partnership demonstrates how collaborative, place-based approaches can deliver meaningful outcomes in priority neighbourhoods. Residents now access support that would otherwise remain out of reach, building skills and confidence essential for modern employment markets.

This model proves that investing in community-led digital and employment support creates lasting impact, empowering individuals while strengthening neighbourhood resilience.”

Employment and Skills Advisor, Leeds City Council

Understanding community need, in partnership with Leeds Anchor Network

The overarching aim of the Leeds Community Anchor Network is to ‘help ensure the communities of Leeds thrive’. Under that is a commitment to ‘enable people to get involved in local activity and have a say about local issues and services’. Gaining knowledge of local people’s experiences and insights helps to shape the agenda for community organisations and informs local decision making. This includes how organisations approach digital inclusion based on an understanding of common barriers.

“The Listening Exercise brought insight from people in some of the city’s priority wards who want to move into employment, or better-quality work.

The overall message was that many people want to move into good quality and meaningful work, but face barriers in doing so that can be beyond their control. Often this is about their personal circumstance, such as not having regular access to the internet or a computer, or speaking English as a second language.”

Project Manager, Leeds City Council

Those experiences and insights also help to provide direction to the Leeds Anchor Network, whose members have ‘ashared commitment to listeningwell to communities, so we canwork together better and delivermore for people in Leeds’.

Leeds Anchor Network brings together 14 of the city’s largest employers across local government, health, culture, education and utilities. Anchors come together to focus on areas where they can make a key difference for the people of Leeds: as employers, through their procurement, their environmental impact, their core services, and as civic partners.

New Wortley Community Centre is one of 30 organisations that have signed up as members of the Leeds Community Anchor Network, a citywide network of trusted third and faith sector organisations. The network aims to maintain the connections made during the Covid pandemic which saw many of its members mobilise quickly to provide front-line support to people and communities in their locality. Leeds Community Anchor Network works to support smaller organisations and improve citywide services that provide immediate assistance to communities while also attempting to bring about long-term systemic change. 

“Leeds anchor organisations are among the largest employers in the city, and we have all made a commitment to providing quality employment for local people.

We know that around 30% of our combined workforce who live in Leeds are in the most disadvantaged areas of the city. Providing good work in these communities is a very important element of our work to deliver inclusive economic growth.

This collaboration with Leeds Community Anchor Network has brought lived insight into the barriers many individuals face in accessing the city’s employment opportunities. Our anchor partners have heard these challenges directly, and will continue to work with communities to develop initiatives to support people into good employment.”

Peter Slee, Vice Chancellor of Leeds Beckett University (Convenor for Inclusive Growth Leeds Ambition)

Next steps

Further conversations since the Listening Exercise and the launch of the HOPE IT suite have led to additional developments in service provision.

The HOPE suite has been used to enhance the weekly Conversation Club classes by adding a digital element, and the Centre has recently added ESOL-accredited classes to their programme.

“An ESOL-accredited course is something we have aspired to offer for some time as the next step towards supporting local people into employment.”

Centre Manager, New Wortley Community Centre

It has also been highlighted that there is a need for children and young people to have safe spaces within the community to develop their skills and knowledge away from the school environment. The Centre is exploring the opportunity of developing a Homework Club that would operate from the HOPE Suite after school hours.

“Conversations with young people have also highlighted that many of them do not have access to wifi outside of school and are reliant on using a mobile phone. It is not practical to use a mobile phone to do homework so we are currently exploring what further support we can offer them.”

Centre Manager, New Wortley Community Centre

For those who cannot make it into the Centre due to other commitments or health barriers, they are also hoping to start gifting data via SIM cards and investigating options around loaning devices.

Finally, due to the success of the HOPE Suite, New Wortley Community Centre is looking to share their experiences with other community anchors and partners in the city with a long-term aim of promoting best practice when setting up IT suites in community settings.

“We know from the Listening Exercises that there are many skilled people living in our neighbourhoods, particularly from diverse communities who want to gain meaningful employment. They face multiple barriers to this including access to IT equipment or wifi and the need for a safe, inclusive space to improve their English, Maths, and Digital skills.


Our programme includes weekly structured learning sessions and more informal ad-hoc drop-in support with searching online for jobs and volunteering opportunities, writing applications, and coaching for interviews. For many of the people who are accessing support their journey will take time and initially may focus on building confidence navigating the internet. For others it’s helping them get much nearer to their goal in securing employment. Whatever the need, we are here to support them.”

Centre Manager, New Wortley Community Centre

Demystifying devices for digital inclusion, in partnership with Reconome

In November 2025 100% Digital Leeds and circular IT specialists Reconome hosted the below webinar supporting digital inclusion delivery partners to build their confidence in buying the right devices for their digital inclusion project, ensuring value for money and maximum social impact.

As well as the below webinar recording, you can download ‘A Practical Guide to Demystifying Devices for Digital Inclusion’ on the Reconome website.

‘Demystifying Devices for Digital Inclusion’ webinar recording.

Reconome play a key role in supporting access to devices for digitally excluded people, directly addressing the digital divide. They are accredited tech partner for Good Things Foundation, powering the National Device Bank, and have previously partnered with Hubbub on their Community Calling programme.

In the webinar Reconome share their extensive knowledge and experience, covering:

  • Smartphones, tablets, laptops, and Chromebooks – understanding the key features so you can choose the right devices for the most impact.
  • Making sense of device specifications – understanding key terminology and unpicking the jargon.
  • Balancing functionality with value for money.
  • Understanding minimum specifications for device safety.
  • Considering accessibility and connectivity.
  • The pros and cons of buying new equipment versus buying reconditioned.
  • Avoiding common pitfalls and ‘false economy’.

Migration Update in Leeds: supporting digital inclusion for migrant communities

In September 2025 Leeds City Council’s Director of Communities, Housing and Environment provided an update on migration activity in Leeds to the council’s Environment, Housing and Communities Scrutiny Board. The report provides an overview of migration-related developments in Leeds, highlighting key challenges faced by new and settled migrant communities. It outlines the collaborative efforts of Leeds City Council, statutory bodies, and third sector partners in addressing these issues, while identifying areas requiring continued support and scrutiny. Read the full report, appendices, and meeting minutes on the Leeds City Council website.

The report includes a summary of the work of 100% Digital Leeds and third sector delivery partners in supporting digital inclusion for migrants in the 12 months prior to the report being published. 100% Digital Leeds works closely with the Leeds Migration Partnership and the Migrant Access Project, to ensure migrants can access timely and trusted digital support across the city. Key activities have included support with eVisa applications, community listening exercises, and collaboration through funding streams such as the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, Leeds Digital Inclusion Fund, QFutures Fund, and SIM gifting.

Scrutiny Board Members were also asked to provide comment on the draft Leeds Migration Strategy 2025 – 2030. The strategy positions digital inclusion as a key enabler of the strategy’s aims and objectives, recognising that digital inclusion is essential for social inclusion.

“As more services, opportunities, and sources of information move online, ensuring that migrants have the skills, access, and confidence to engage digitally is critical. This strategy helps reduce barriers to healthcare, education, employment, and civic participation, supporting migrants to thrive and contribute fully to a digitally connected, inclusive city.”

Draft Leeds Migration Strategy: 2025 – 2030

Supporting digital inclusion for migrant communities

For many migrant communities the barriers to digital inclusion are complex and link to wider factors beyond the common issues of lack of digital skills or access to a device. Those additional barriers include language or literacy needs, cultural considerations, poverty, disabilities, and lack of secure housing. 

The 100% Digital Leeds programme works in partnership with local organisations to embed tailored digital support within trusted community services, aiming to reduce digital exclusion. Over the past year, the programme has focused on strengthening digital infrastructure, supporting groups working with refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants, helping them access funding and build capacity to deliver effective digital inclusion initiatives.

eVisas 

An eVisa is an electronic record of a person’s immigration status. It provides people with the ability to view and prove their immigration status online. eVisas are accessed via a UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) account. This can then be used to share information about their immigration status and conditions, such as their right to work or rent in the UK. To apply for an eVisa, people need digital devices with access to the internet, and the digital skills and confidence to navigate the online application system. 

The 100% Digital Leeds team has worked with Leeds Migration Partnership to ensure digital inclusion support is in place to help people apply for and use their eVisa. This included raising awareness through the 100% Digital Leeds newsletter, promoting training sessions from community organisations such as Leeds Refugee Forum to help staff, volunteers, and community leaders understand the new system, and prioritising smartphone gifting and SIM gifting initiatives.

“B. arrived in the UK in late 2024 and was struggling with settling in the UK and the process of applying for permanent residency. He couldn’t speak English very well, making the process harder.

He was referred to Holbeck Together and we provided access to a device and data plan which allowed him to begin his application for residency. We also showed him how to download and use apps, including the UK Immigration: ID Check app, and a translation app to make communication easier. Following this initial contact we helped him upload documents and evidence to support his resettlement process and begin an application for his eVisa. Over the course of several visits he managed to open a UK bank account, register with several agencies for work, and also contact a GP and register with health services.

He has now moved to new accommodation near Wakefield and is looking to improve his English via online and in-person learning.” 

Testimonial from Holbeck Together

Supporting grassroots organisations 

Over the last year, the digital inclusion team has worked with a number of grassroots organisations that have not previously worked with 100% Digital Leeds. These organisations have a deep understanding of the issues that affect and impact upon the communities they support. Many of the organisations are unregistered, constituted groups rather than registered charities. They are often run by people who belong to the community they are supporting, and who share the lived experience of those communities. Many of these organisations support migrant communities.  

Anshlah

Anshlah is a constituted group with 42 members, based in SHINE in Harehills. They work to raise aspirations and provide opportunities to the women they support, and they identified digital inclusion as one of the enablers to achieving those outcomes. 100% Digital Leeds worked with Anshlah to identify a range of national and local partners who could support their developing digital inclusion offer. The digital inclusion team helped Anshlah to register with Good Things Foundation’s National Databank to gift free SIM cards to their members, introduced them to colleagues at Leeds Libraries so they could borrow iPads to use with members in the centre, signposted them to resources from Leeds Older People’s Forum’s Be Online Stay Safe project, and brought in the UK Shared Prosperity Fund-funded Digital Inclusion Officer from Voluntary Action Leeds to add extra capacity and support for Anshlah’s digital skills sessions. Anshlah are in the process of setting up a bank account for their organisation. When this is in place, the 100% Digital Leeds team will continue to work with Anshlah to look at funding opportunities where digital inclusion can be positioned as an enabler to achieving the outcomes that Anshlah want to see for their members. 

AME for Roma

AME for Roma is a registered society supporting the Gypsy Roma community in Harehills. They are a grassroots organisation at the start of their digital inclusion journey. The society is run by someone who is originally from Romania and has been living in Leeds for 12 years. She created the AME for Roma group to help amplify the community’s voices. 100% Digital Leeds awarded AME for Roma a £500 grant from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to purchase a laptop and smartphone to support the running of the organisation. AME for Roma have joined Good Things Foundation’s National Digital Inclusion Network and National Databank to gift SIM cards to their community, and they are working with 100% Digital Leeds on a project to combat data poverty in partnership with Jangala. 

Community Listening Exercises 

100% Digital Leeds understands the importance of listening to communities to make sure that digital inclusion initiatives are appropriate and effective. In July and December 2024, 100% Digital Leeds was invited to two Community Listening Exercises by New Wortley Community Association and Give a Gift. Both organisations are rooted in communities with large migrant populations, and support people to integrate and prosper, working to bridge the gap between the assistance provided by statutory agencies and the actual needs of individuals and families. 

Key barriers that were identified through the Listening Exercises were the lack of access and support to go online. People also emphasised the systemic disadvantages that cause so much digital exclusion.  

“The internet was described as ‘scary when you don’t know how to use it’, implying that some participants would, at the very least, require support from a friend or other knowledgeable community member when accessing opportunities on the internet.  

In addition, other participants described the financial barriers that contributed to digital exclusion, with cost being highlighted as a factor in not being able to use the internet. Some participants would use friends’ houses and neighbours’ wifi or use the buses or local shops like Asda, and fast-food restaurants to access on (their) own devices, meaning that they lacked a consistent, independent method of being able to use technology.  

Due to these factors, it was felt that communities would benefit from ‘a person to sit with them and help to understand how to access the internet’. This could ideally be a peer support worker from the same background who has both the cultural knowledge to relate to people in communities in question and the digital knowledge they can pass on to them.” 

Good Jobs, Better Health, Fairer Futures Report

Following these Listening Exercises, both New Wortley Community Association and Give a Gift were supported by 100% Digital Leeds to enhance digital access and support in their communities. Using money from UK Shared Prosperity Fund, 100% Digital Leeds awarded grants of:  

  • £10,000 to Give a Gift to buy the equipment they needed to set up an IT suite. This means they can support refugees, asylum seekers, and disadvantaged communities by providing the means to develop their digital skills and engage with services digitally. 

UK Shared Prosperity Fund 

100% Digital Leeds was allocated £400,000 of UK Shared Prosperity Funding (UKSPF), and all of that money was used to increase the capacity of VCSE organisations to support 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.  

100% Digital Leeds awarded grants to 39 organisations, including: 

  • £3,000 to St. Vincent’s Centre Leeds to buy laptops for staff to use to support clients with application forms, ESOL, benefits, and housing. 
  • £5,000 to Women’s Whispers to buy laptops and smartphones to allow the organisation to support Black and ethnically diverse women, including migrant women, fleeing domestic violence.  
  • £9,000 to RETAS to buy digital equipment for use onsite for clients and staff. 
  • £20,000 to Damasq to buy laptops, tablets, charging cabinets and accessories, and a smart screen, to embed digital inclusion into new and existing programmes at Ebor Gardens Community Centre. 

Leeds Digital Inclusion Fund 

Leeds Digital Inclusion Fund continues to provide funding to VCSE organisations supporting migrants. The Digital Inclusion Fund is a permanent funding stream, with grants awarded on an annual basis. The fund is administered by Leeds Community Foundation in partnership with 100% Digital Leeds, using money raised by the city’s digital and tech sector through Leeds Digital Ball.  

Four organisations supporting migrants successfully applied for Leeds Digital Inclusion Fund grants in 2023 and 2024: 

RETAS received a grant of £5,000 in 2023 to expand on their existing essential digital skills courses to include upskilling around using NHS digital services, online banking, welfare and benefits services, and finding employment. 

“Before completing the course, I had no digital skills and needed help to understand how to use a computer, including how to use a keyboard. Now I can create documents and use shortcuts. I would now like to explore working in IT in the future.” 

Service user, RETAS

Complete Woman received grants of £8,840 in 2023 and £9,945 in 2024. They used the grants to run a Digital Hub supporting participants with a tablet lending scheme, gifting SIM cards via the National Databank, and delivering basic digital skills sessions and one-to-one digital support. This enables participants to access the internet, essential services, and information that they previously struggled to engage with. Many beneficiaries have limited or no internet access at home, and this initiative empowers them to independently connect to vital online resources, enhancing their daily lives. 

“One of our service users relocated to the UK with her 12-year-old son during the school term. He was unable to secure a school place for half a term and had to stay home during this period. She was a migrant care worker and faced challenges finding stable employment and supporting her son’s educational needs while he was out of school. We provided her with a tablet with data, which allowed her son to access educational resources and stay engaged while at home. We also helped her with personalised support with her job search. With our help, she secured a new job where she feels much more supported. Her son has settled into his new school and is thriving. The digital equipment and support played a key role in helping them transition smoothly into their new environment. We were grateful for her feedback: ‘Thank you for supporting us during our difficult season, we are both in a much better place now’.” 

Complete Woman CIC

Meeting Point received a grant of £9,889 in 2024 to set up a Digital Lab where volunteers and staff support clients with digital skills and access. People are supported with digital tools such as New to Leeds, transport and travel apps, and job search sites. Meeting Point also gift SIM cards via the National Databank. 

Leeds Refugee Forum received a grant of £10,000 in 2024 to support the continuation of their established digital inclusion support offer. The funding has enabled the continuation of biweekly SIM card gifting drop-ins, provision of an internet café at One Community Centre, lending tablets to people who are in education to further their personal development, provision of digital skills workshops, and support with eVisa applications. The organisation will also be providing 15 beneficiaries struggling to afford wifi with ‘plug in and go’ Get Boxes via 100% Digital Leeds’s partnership with Jangala. 

QFutures Fund 

The QFutures fund is a partnership between 100% Digital Leeds, broadband provider Quickline, and Leeds Community Foundation. The fund aims to support community organisations working with children and young people to take a holistic approach to digital upskilling and activities for families which aid employability across Leeds and Bradford. Four organisations in Leeds were supported by 100% Digital Leeds to apply for this closed funding opportunity, receiving £5,312.50 per year for up to 3 years. Two of the organisations support migrant communities: 

  • Afrikindness received funding to embed digital inclusion support into their existing outreach and intervention programme aimed at African communities. Initial plans include a survey of people in LS7 and LS8 to better understand local digital inclusion needs, followed by community focus groups to inform their development of the digital inclusion intervention. The organisation has gone on to deliver a series of digital skills workshops tailored to the needs of the parents they support.

“Before the sessions, I was scared of even opening my laptop. Now I log in confidently, help my child find GCSEPod videos, and even use the internet safely. This training has changed my life and I will still continue with the training.”

Parent learner, Afrikindness

  • Give a Gift received funding to deliver weekly digital skills sessions for some of the migrant families they support. Sessions are being developed to support digital literacy, including how to use basic programmes, email, and search for volunteering and training opportunities.  

Digital inclusion and financial resilience 

Multiply was a government funded scheme to improve adult numeracy skills, aiming to boost people’s ability to use maths in their daily life, both at home and work. The Leeds City Council Multiply scheme was managed by the Employment and Skills service. 100% Digital Leeds worked with Employment and Skills and third sector partners to use Multiply to support communities hit hardest by the cost-of-living crisis. Over three funding rounds, 19 of 100% Digital Leeds’s third sector delivery partners received funding to support almost 700 learners to improve their financial resilience by increasing their maths skills and their digital inclusion. Each learner was gifted a digital device and connectivity. 

  • Damasq received £5,000 in 2023 and £19,000 in 2024 to deliver Multiply sessions. Their sessions, delivered in Arabic, supported 48 migrants with digital skills and household budgeting.  

“I was able to visit one of Damasq’s sessions. It was delivered by one of Damasq’s members, a lady who works in user interface design and user experience. It was clear that having the class delivered by a peer put Damasq’s learners at ease. It also meant the session could be delivered in Arabic. Delivering the session in the first language of Damasq’s members removed any potential language barriers, making the session more engaging and easier for people to understand. The session covered the basics of internet shopping, a topic which appealed to the learners and was a great way to combine basic numeracy skills with digital skills. As an added bonus, the lady leading the session told me that playing this role allowed her to build her confidence in presenting.”  

Alice James Hopton, 100% Digital Leeds.  

  • RETAS received grants of £6,000 in 2023 and £14,000 in 2024 to deliver Multiply sessions. 40 migrants with English as an additional language and very limited digital skills were supported with basic digital skills, digital skills for financial resilience, and online safety. 

“The course was very good because I started from scratch. Now I’ve learnt to do things on the computer like making files and saving documents and I know how to stay safe online. It will help me to find work, access courses, and study.”   

Multiply learner, RETAS

SIM gifting via the National Databank 

100% Digital Leeds has supported 117 organisations to join Good Things Foundation’s National Databank, which provides organisations with free SIM cards with data, texts and calls to gift to people that couldn’t otherwise afford connectivity. Databank organisations supporting migrants in Leeds include Mears, Leeds Refugee Forum, Complete Woman CIC, Community Ambition, Women’s Whispers and Meeting Point CIC. Migrants can be signposted to SIM gifting sites and other digital inclusion support via 100% Digital Leeds’s Community Support Directory. 

100% Digital Leeds run a quarterly Leeds Databank User Group in partnership with Good Things Foundation. The User Group has provided organisations supporting migrants with tips on gifting SIM cards to people with English as a second language, promoting the offer of international calls via the O2 SIM cards, and distributing materials to help people with ESOL activate their O2 SIM cards. Horsforth Chaplaincy Project secured a £1,000 activation grant in 2024 from the National Databank to establish their digital inclusion services within the charity.  

Leeds Refugee Forum were invited to the Databank User Group to share their approach and the success of their SIM card drop-in sessions. To manage the high levels of need, Leeds Refugee Forum run two drop-in sessions a week for people needing SIM cards. They target advertisement of the sessions to people accessing support across Leeds Migration Partnership. Between June 2023 and June 2024, 715 service users were given SIM cards by Leeds Refugee Forum. 

“Providing SIM cards helps our service users feel more connected to their local and global communities and with their loved ones.” 

Leeds Refugee Forum

Include+ grant to research effective device gifting 

In 2024, 100% Digital Leeds worked with Horsforth Chaplaincy Project to develop a digital inclusion support offer for asylum seekers at Mercure Leeds Parkway Hotel. Increasing support at this hotel was identified as a priority because its location on the outskirts of the city makes it difficult for asylum seekers to access services located centrally, leaving residents isolated. 100% Digital Leeds supported Horsforth Chaplaincy to sign up to the National Digital Inclusion Network and they were able to access 50 smartphones via the National Device Bank, to be distributed to asylum seeking men at the hotel, along with data SIMs from the National Databank.  

100% Digital Leeds supported Horsforth Chaplaincy to successfully apply for a £5,000 INCLUDE+ research grant to explore how to most effectively gift devices to asylum seekers. Horsforth Chaplaincy’s research will help to inform national practice, ensuring migrants can be effectively supported with device gifting to achieve the best possible outcomes. 

Driving corporate device donations to Solidaritech

100% Digital Leeds has worked with Solidaritech for many years. As part of Leeds Digital Festival 2024, the 100% Digital Leeds team hosted the Empowerment Through Technology webinar featuring speakers from 100% Digital Leeds, Solidaritech, Emerald Publishing, and Leeds Asylum Seekers’ Support Network. 

In the last 12 months, Solidaritech has refurbished and gifted over 1,300 devices to digitally excluded refugees and asylum seekers across Yorkshire and the Humber. The webinar was designed to inform businesses and other organisations of the positive 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.  

Maximising the impact of social value  

100% Digital Leeds is leveraging Tech sector support to maximise the impact of corporate Social Value initiatives to increase the capacity of community organisations. One example of this is 100% Digital Leeds’s work with Virgin Media O2 to implement their ESG commitments to best effect. This has seen eight charities share a donation of 100 SIM enabled tablets, and ten charities receive fibre broadband connections with no costs for five years. Organisations supporting migrants that have benefitted from this support include PAFRAS, who received 20 tablets, and Hamwattan, who were supported to install wifi for use by staff and the public at the Hamwattan Centre. 

“Having a tablet to be able to stay occupied and to keep in contact with friends and family both within the UK, and in their home countries, is so important for people’s wellbeing. A lot of people are keen to engage with ESOL classes in Leeds, but homework is set remotely. Having a tablet with connectivity helps people to progress quicker with developing their English Language skills.”  

PAFRAS

Next steps 

The 100% Digital Leeds team will continue to work with Leeds Migration Partnership. The team has already contributed to the survey on the refresh of Leeds Strategic Coordinated and Inclusive Approach to Migration 2021-2025. They will follow that initial feedback with more in-depth discussions with Leeds Migration Team. They will also continue to support and develop the digital inclusion offer of VCSE partners who work with people from migrant communities. The focus of the 100% Digital Leeds team is to ensure the digital inclusion infrastructure across Leeds is bigger, stronger, and more sustainable year-on-year. This means that when people from migrant communities experience digital exclusion, they will be able to find the help they need, wherever and whenever they need it, delivered by people and organisations they trust. 

The getUBetter app for people living with MSK  

The getUBetter app is now available for people across Leeds who are living with Musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions.   

The app rollout in Leeds is part of the  West Yorkshire Healthy Working Life Programme which is supporting people who are economically inactive due to ill health to return to work or stay in work and remain economically active. 

A walk-through of the getUBetter app 

This video includes screenshots of the getUBetter app, so that organisations can be confident in supporting any members with the sign-up process.  

Further resources and downloadable posters and leaflets have been developed to support organisations to raise awareness and share information to support people in using the app.  

Benefits of the app: 

This free app can help to support people with muscle, bone, and joint concerns more effectively and efficiently, and offers daily personalised and targeted self-management for all common MSK injuries and conditions. 

  • 24/7 support approved by local clinicians. 
  • Available via mobile app and through any web browser. 
  • Available in 14 languages and touch-to-speak. 
  • Easy to follow exercises.  
  • Advice on when to seek help from a GP. 
  • Access to local treatments and services. 
  • Support for managing persistent pain. 
  • Help when on a waiting list.

How to access the app: 

Anyone registered with a GP Practice in Leeds can search for the getUBetter app in the app store of their mobile device and download it:

  • By visiting app.getubetter.com in a web browser. 
  • By scanning one of the QR codes on posters and leaflets available in GP practices. 
  • Via community pharmacies across Leeds. 
  • Via a signpost from their GP. 

The getUBetter app for people living with MSK: a webinar for community partners 

100% Digital Leeds worked in partnership with Leeds GP Confederation to deliver a webinar with Lucia Dey, Head of Growth and Transformation.   

The webinar gives organisations a first look at the getUBetter app and shares how patients can access the app in Leeds. 

The webinar covers: 

  • More information about the rollout of the getUBetter app in Leeds 
  • More information about the features and benefits of the app 
  • How you can support people to download and use the app 
  • Information about what digital inclusion support is available across the city to signpost people to 

Please note: Patients need an email address and a device to register. Once accessed, people can enter their home postcode and create an account to start using the app.   

Supporting people with barriers to digital inclusion  

Organisations can use 100% Digital Leeds’s Community Support Directory to identify where to signpost people to support with digital inclusion, such as accessing free wifi, devices, data sims, and digital skills support. Further resources to support people with digital health tools can be found on the 100% Digital Leeds Digital Inclusion Delivery Resources GoogleDrive.