“There were times when I was literally crying because it was a struggle, especially when your doctor says fill in the form online.
“You need that data. It’s vital. I have days when I can’t go out and I need to do shopping online. How do you get by if you can’t access the internet? It’s hard.
“I had to send my kids to my neighbour so they could do their homework. I felt embarrassed.”
Eventually the Good Things Foundation, which works to end digital exclusion, provided the family with a tablet and data.
The chair of the committee, Baroness Stowell, told the BBC that people without internet often missed out on online deals “so in a cost-of-living type situation, they are also not getting the full advantage of any savings”, she said.
‘Political lethargy’
The report accused the government of taking its “eye off the ball”.
It said the government’s ambition to make the UK a “technology superpower” and boost economic growth was being undermined by high levels of digital exclusion.
That includes people who can’t afford internet, who can’t access it, or lack key digital skills.
It said the scale of the problem was a “direct consequence of political lethargy”.
The increasing use of AI in the delivery of public services may also mean that digitally excluded people may face bias.
People who do not post online often may be poorly represented in the datasets – often drawn from material on the internet – used to train such systems, the report said.
Peers want to see more use of social tariffs. At the moment just 5% of the 4.3 million households who are eligible use them.
The committee also called for the chancellor to remove VAT from social tariffs “straight away”, Baroness Stowell said, adding that she wanted Ofcom to do better in forcing companies to advertise these tariffs.
The report comes as Chancellor Jeremy Hunt met with regulators including Ofcom about the cost-of-living crisis.
Following that meeting Dame Melanie Dawes, Ofcom’s chief executive, said it would be “urging telecoms firms to take immediate steps to raise awareness of social tariffs”.
Till Sommer from the Internet Service Providers Association agreed with the committee that a new digital inclusion strategy was “long overdue”.
He said there was a “real commitment” across the broadband sector to help more people get online through social tariffs and support for people struggling.
But he said there were areas where “only the government can move the dial – including reviewing VAT on broadband”.
Source – BBC News
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