The UK government is to spend £11.7 million on digital training to help people from vulnerable communities get online.

The Digital Inclusion fund will support around 80 schemes across the UK run by charities and educational organisations, which the government said will help people master basic skills such as setting up an email account and sharing files.

According to the Essential Digital Skills report by Lloyds Bank, around eight million UK adults lack basic digital skills and around 1.6 million live offline altogether.

The government said that the lack of skills prevents these people from accessing services online, managing their finances or searching for jobs.

A report by the Centre for Social Justice also found that people without internet pay around 25 per cent more for things like home insurance, travel and food.

The government said that as part of the investment, disadvantaged young people across the North and Midlands will have access to e-sports, helping them to learn new digital skills and develop safe online behaviours, while a project run by charity Age UK will help 7,000 older people learn how to use the NHS app to manage their health.

Other projects being funded by the initiative include the University of Bristol’s Future Ideas project, which brings together digitally excluded members of the community and digital design experts to co-create a chatbot.

The chatbot will be used to facilitate digital skills, with the aim of understanding the specific needs of people it is being built to support.

“Being online is something many of us take for granted, but for millions it could mean a new job opportunity, quicker access to healthcare or a lifeline to the local community,” said Liz Lloyd, minister for digital inclusion Liz Lloyd. “This fund will both empower community organisations to help those most at risk of being left behind get the skills, access and confidence they need - while also informing how we can help even more people in the future.”

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