O2 and Hubbub launched the Community Calling campaign in Leeds in January 2021. The campaign gifts smartphones with free data, calls and texts to digitally excluded people. 100% Digital Leeds worked closely with Hubbub to coordinate the distribution of phones through our networks of community partners across the city. As well as working collaboratively with our partners in Leeds, we also worked with colleagues in the region to distribute phones across West Yorkshire.

In three phases during 2021, the 100% Digital Leeds team distributed 1,350 phones to organisations supporting digitally excluded people throughout Leeds. We also arranged for 500 phones to be distributed to our contacts in Bradford, Calderdale and Kirklees. This has enabled people across the region to get online to keep in touch with friends and family, access digital services, learn new skills and participate in an increasingly digital world.

Project Delivery

To distribute and deliver the phones, the 100% Digital Leeds team identified community partners who support a range of people from different Communities of Interest. We asked those organisations to identify people who were among the most isolated or excluded so that the phones would go to beneficiaries who really needed them. Priority was given to service-users who did not have a phone, could not afford to get online or could not access the internet independently.

All of the organisations that received phones work with people who are more likely to be digitally excluded, many of whom face multiple barriers to getting online. We worked with organisations supporting a wide range of people including:

• Care home residents
• Gypsy and Traveller families
• Older people
• People living in poverty or on a low income
• People who are homeless or at risk of homelessness
• People with learning disabilities and autistic people
• Refugees and asylum seekers
• Women and girls

Over 80 third sector organisations in Leeds received phones through the distribution networks that we set up with our community partners.

100% Digital Leeds networks

100% Digital Leeds has a number of digital inclusion networks bringing together partners who support specific communities. 

The success of Community Calling in Leeds relied on multiple organisations working together to deliver phones to digitally excluded people. Thanks to our well-established relationships with partners in the third sector, 100% Digital Leeds could mobilise quickly to distribute the phones. This was important to ensure that the full 12-months of free calls and data could be used by beneficiaries.

The organisations have all supported each beneficiary to make the most of the device they’ve been given. This is a direct result of the work that 100% Digital Leeds has done with each of those partners to help them understand the person-centred approach to supporting people to become more digitally included.

100% Digital Leeds has excellent relationships with the organisations we work with, and they have trusted relationships with their service users. We can move quickly to coordinate device distribution at scale and ensure that phones go to people who most need them. The organisations we work with know their service users best, so they had the autonomy to choose the beneficiaries who would receive phones. Some organisations acted as distribution centres for smaller organisations who work with the same Communities of Interest.

Gifting or lending?

100% Digital Leeds has helped to set up dozens of device lending schemes run by different organisations across the city. Lending schemes are important, and a loan may be appropriate for some people as a short-term response or if they have an immediate need. But lending is unlikely to be a long-enough intervention for people with very low digital skills or for those who are the most digitally excluded.

There are additional benefits to beneficiaries being gifted a device rather than being lent a device. These include higher levels of:

• Certainty – recipients of gifted devices are safe in the knowledge that their device won’t be recalled at the end of a loan period.
• Security – recipients can fully utilise features that they may not feel comfortable using on a shared device. This could include keeping personal photos and messages on the device, installing their own apps, creating their own bookmarks and using websites and tools that store personal data and passwords.
• Ownership – each recipient can take ownership of their own digital development. They are free to use the device in ways that are meaningful for them and learn new skills at their own pace over a longer timeframe.
• Trust – giving a device to someone can strengthen the trusted relationship between the recipient and the organisation.  

Impact

Testimonials from some of the organisations who took part in the Community Calling scheme:

“I think the smartphones have been one of the most effective interventions we’ve done, not just because of the benefits of the device and data but the impact on clients’ self-esteem. One client was very socially isolated and was lacking the digital means to help address this. Since he has had the smartphone, he has been able to connect with friends on Facebook and set up an email to enable me to send him signposting information. The impact on his mental health has been very noticeable and he is very appreciative.”

Community Links Wellbeing Coordinator

“My client moved to the UK a couple of years ago to support her relative with childcare. She was reliant on her family for everything but was desperate to be self-sufficient. She also felt lonely and isolated due to being alone in the house during the daytime and was tearful and emotional during our initial conversations. This isolation caused her great anxiety, affected her sleep and she was taking anti-depressants prescribed by her GP”

Community Links Wellbeing Coordinator

“The Client told me that she felt happy, lighter, and excited about having her own phone. It meant that she could keep in touch with relatives abroad, look for jobs and it gave her a bit of hope for the future. She also felt liberated simply because of having her own phone and her own telephone number, so she could now access social activities, and be her own independent person. At the exit appointment the Client told me that receiving the phone was a turning point in her life, as she felt connected to the outside world and was able to take control of her life again.”

Community Links Wellbeing Coordinator

“One person could have been viewed as a high-risk donation, with the phone at risk of being sold or lost due to high levels of substance use. But she still has her phone after 12 months. She uses it to stay in touch with family, combat isolation and making calls for her appointments. Her wellbeing has improved over the past year and her substance use has significantly decreased.”

Basis Yorkshire

“SG is an Eastern European man sleeping rough and known to St Anne’s. He was given a Community Calling phone when he presented at a City Square food provision. He used the phone and data to contact his family via social media. He is now reunited with his family and living with his brother.”

St. Anne’s Community Services

“CH was an active heroin user and a St Anne’s service user for a number of years who had struggled to find and maintain secure accommodation. In March 2020 he was placed in temporary emergency accommodation and supported to engage with Forward Leeds. Saviour Trust were able to find him accommodation with a friend, but that relationship broke down. CH visited St Anne’s to use their PCs to bid on Housing Leeds properties. He was offered a Community Calling smartphone with data to allow him to spend more time active bidding and was able to secure a property. He no longer presents at St Anne’s but is often seen around town by staff and always stops to show them he’s still got his phone and to thank them.”

St. Anne’s Community Services

“KB and JB came to St Anne’s for support ending a tenancy. Having no access to a phone meant they needed to spend a lot of time at St Anne’s waiting for calls from Leeds Housing Options, who had no other way to contact them. Having a smartphone has allowed them to be less reliant on St Anne’s staff and more independent in managing their situation. They have now both been placed in temporary accommodation. KB struggles with low mood and is thankful to be able to use the phone and data to watch a film or listen to music, both of which help him manage his mental health.”

St. Anne’s Community Services

“RM has led a life of trauma and chaos. His past has affected his mental health and he struggles to control his emotions and temper. As a result, he has had frequent incidents at St Anne’s when he has been verbally abusive and physically threatening to staff and other service users. He was given a Community Calling smartphone to access tools that help him deescalate and manage his emotions, such as listening to music and watching films. He has since been placed in temporary accommodation and being able to access entertainment media at home on his phone has helped him manage his mental health and stay home and “out of trouble”. Since being gifted the smartphone RM has spent more time at home St Anne’s have seen him in fewer incidents.”

St. Anne’s Community Services

“Thank you for the gift, which helped me speak with my family back home in Africa. Talking with my family and community groups in the UK during the lockdown and beyond made me feel less isolated and more engaged without the stress of topping up. As a person with no income and not allowed to work, you can imagine how stressful not being able to meet or speak with people is. This scheme helped me a lot and I am very grateful for the support!”

Recipient of a phone via Unleashing Refugee Potential

LEEDS 2023 are excited to be working on a series of free workshops in partnership with 100% Digital Leeds that aim to make creative software training more accessible to Leeds communities.

Each workshop will give you new ways to share your own stories and the stories of the people you work with using free and easy to use digital tools. They’ll cover easy video editing, sound recording, image editing, and other skills great for capturing and sharing the impact of your work and creating engaging content for your social media or website.

The same skills could be brought into your creative events programming and used to help the people and communities you work with to record and share their stories and creative work, upskill them and teach them new skills. These free workshops will be breaking down the perceptions that digital software’s are difficult to use, expensive and inaccessible.

Starting at the end of April, and hosted at ‘Platform’ near the Leeds Train station; these monthly workshops will focus on learning how to use free and simple digital tools, resources, and software, with each workshop covering a different skill. Don’t worry if you’re a beginner or not confident in your digital skills, the workshops will cover all the basics and everything you need to know to make the most of the software after the session.

The workshops are for anyone who is new to digital design software, people that want to learn new skills for themselves or to share with the people and communities they work with, or anyone who wants to explore new ways to make digital content. These workshops will enable you to make artworks and create digital content for your organisation or businesses, and will give everyone taking part new skills to use as part of LEEDS 2023 year of culture.

Open to anyone over the age of 18, all the workshops will be recorded and be accessible online with BSL translation shortly after the sessions. All participants will be given the option of claiming a free First bus Day rider if needed to attend the workshops.

Sign up to the events will open end the end of March with the first session running April 27^th 17:30 – 19:00.

Please keep an eye out on LEEDS 2023 and 100% Digital Leeds social accounts for more updates, and follow 100% digital Leeds on Eventbrite to book free tickets when the events go live.

“I’ve sent people to the library to access a computer because if they’re looking for jobs, I mean… everything’s online, they don’t accept written applications, it’s got to be online.”

Volunteer, St. Cross Church Food Bank in Middleton

People experiencing food poverty are likely to also be experiencing digital poverty. Organisations supporting people experiencing food poverty are well placed to identify digitally excluded people and signpost them to the help they need to get online.

Trussell Trust’s partnership with Vodafone on the ‘Vodafone Together’ scheme is a national example of how food banks and organisations supporting digital inclusion can come together to identify families living with digital poverty and offer them support, in this instance providing free connectivity for up to a year.

Similarly, 100% Digital Leeds has worked with Food Banks and other partners in Leeds, providing access to digital devices and training, equipping staff and volunteers to provide and signpost to digital inclusion support, and we’re keen to do more.

Understanding digital poverty

The pandemic has caused many people to use the internet in new ways. According to the Lloyds Consumer Digital Index 2020 saw 1.5 million people get online for the first time, with many others spending far longer online than in previous years. Many first time users of the internet during the crisis have been driven by need – nearly three-in-four are people now shopping online for groceries or clothing, for example.

However, the same report shows that 2.5 million people in the UK are currently without internet access, leaving millions of people cut off from engaging with the digital world. 55% of those offline earn under £20,000 and, while there are multiple barriers to digital inclusion, for those on low incomes affordability is often the biggest factor.  

29% of internet users come into the ‘very low engagement’ category, meaning they don’t go online much at all. Nearly half (44%) of this category earn less than £20,000 per year. Some of these have limited access to the internet because they are experiencing ‘data poverty’, meaning they’re not able to afford a sufficient, private and secure internet connection to meet essential needs.

For those on a low income, accessing the internet costs more and is less reliable. Many people can’t afford or don’t have a good enough credit rating to get a contract for WiFi at home, leaving them relying on mobile phones and 4G data. Those who can’t afford a high enough monthly 4G allowance may consistently run out of data and be left without the ability to get online for part of the month. Those who can’t afford (or are otherwise unable to access) a data contract at all are left paying for data on a ‘Pay As You Go’ basis – the most expensive and least reliable way to access the internet.  

Digital and data poverty means it’s much harder to apply for jobs online, manage money online, or quickly access essential services such as health and benefits. It means children can’t do school work online, or keep in touch with their friends. There’s an insightful blog post written by one of our partners, Leeds Asylum Seekers Support Network, about the data and cost involved when doing some things online like video calling.

As well as making it easier for people to access services and keep on top of things, being online actually saves people money – people with the most digital engagement also pay less for important bills such as utilities, saving an average of £228 per year – 2.5 times more than those internet users with low engagement.

The people who would most benefit from being online are, more often than not, those who find it hardest to get online. 100% Digital Leeds is working with partners across the city – including Food Banks – to identify people experiencing digital poverty and other forms of digital exclusion and get them the support they need. Here are some examples of our work so far:

Supporting Food Banks to provide devices and data

100% Digital Leeds has worked with Food Banks and organisations providing food parcel provision to support the connectivity of people experiencing digital poverty.

100% Digital Leeds’s partnership with Community Calling, a project by Hubbub and O2 to gift refurbished smartphones to people who need them, has meant that organisations like Woodhouse Community Centre and New Wortley Community Centre have been able to gift reconditioned devices with a year’s free 4G data, calls, and texts to those in need via food parcels as part of their role as Community Care Hubs, ensuring that the most vulnerable people in the city have had access to support during the pandemic.

As part of their development as Digital Health Hubs, in partnership with 100% Digital Leeds and Local Care Partnerships, community organisations like Hamara Healthy Living Centre and Holbeck Together are able to loan tablets with 4G data via their in-house Tablet Lending Schemes, or gift smartphones with 4G data via the Community Calling scheme to members of the community experiencing digital poverty, many of whom have been identified and supported when accessing food bank services.

Supporting Food Banks to signpost to services

100% Digital Leeds worked with Leeds South and East Foodbank in 2019 to trial and then implement a scheme that meant their food bank volunteers have access to digital devices with data, allowing fast and efficient signposting to services as well as supporting the administration of food bank services. A similar approach has also been implemented at Hamara Healthy Living Centre, amongst others, to great success.

Say we’ve got someone who comes in with a food voucher, but he or she’s got other problems.  Say they might have a drink problem.  We don’t have a great deal of literature, but with [the iPad] we can go on and say ‘right, you need to go to Forward Leeds.’  Or look up organisations like the Citizens Advice Bureau, and it means we get reliable and up-to-date information.”

Barbara, St Cross Church Food Bank in Middleton

Supporting community organisations to signpost to Food Banks

100% Digital Leeds work with a wider range of partners from across all sectors, supporting them to better understand the potential digital exclusion of their service users and put the right support in place for them.

Nurture@Kentmere are a parent-led community support group breaking down the barriers of isolation that often come with parenthood. They have created a safe, non-judgmental environment for parents and carers of young children to come together and access various support services, including helping people to get online. Having access to digital equipment has allowed the group to support members to find out about and access the services they need, including Food Banks.

“We had a member contact us as their friend had no food or warm clothes, so we were able to coordinate with our local charity shop to organise some clothing, as well as making a referral to a food bank and getting as much information as possible.  The outcome of this was that we were able to provide the person with some donated clothes to keep them warm, food, and information on next steps.”

Member, Nurture@Kentmere

Supporting access to the newly digitised NHS Healthy Start Scheme

100% Digital Leeds is working with Zest to ensure that people in Leeds are supported to access the NHS Healthy Start scheme which will be digital only from April this year. Taking the scheme online makes it difficult for those without the equipment, skills, and confidence to apply for this much needed and under-utilised support. This on-going partnership has seen organisations across the city trained to support access to the scheme, including identifying digital exclusion and signposting to further support.

Next Steps

100% Digital Leeds is pleased to partner with Leeds Food Aid Network and we look forward to working more closely with network members to support the digital inclusion of people experiencing food and digital poverty.  Read more about the 100% Digital Leeds approach.