In 2020, we were in emergency response mode. Now we’re talking about New Beginnings. Maybe it’s too soon, (like making jokes about Princess Diana), but it feels like time to think about the future.
One of the best things about 2020 for Quids in! and its parent firm, Clean Slate, was its partnership with the Good Things Foundation and Mastercard. Together, we launched the Nobody in the Dark campaign, to help ensure vulnerable communities did not miss out just because they weren’t online. So many services they depended on had gone online but so many people remained digitally excluded.
TOO GOOD TO MISS
Our response was to create something so useful that it appealed to even the most reticent. We hoped to attract the hardcore of people resistant to getting online before the crisis. Our Future-Proof Finance Quiz already lived online, available to Quids in! readers who fancied checking out ways to become more financially resilient. We dusted it down and stuffed it full of useful links to dozens of the most useful digital tools and resources. The Quiz generates action plans including steps like using benefit calculators, switching utilities, and accessing advice on everything from job hunting to mental health.
The toolkit is online but it’s also accessible by working with a support worker by phone or face-to-face. As an emergency response, in partnership with Online Centres across the country, we engaged 550 people who were struggling. For Clean Slate, it then went on to help thousands more as we co-opted it for new commissions from social landlords, grant-makers and DWP. Depending on the level of service, participants achieved financial gains of up to £2,250, (the average for people on our 12-week programme). One outlier uncovered a windfall of almost £100,000. (See our Impact Report).
SAME BUT DIFFERENT
One year on, as this month’s lead QIPRO feature reports, our sector is focused on re-connection. People are crying out for face-to-face contact but some have missed out altogether, especially the digitally excluded. The new normal is likely to be what a friend of mine describes as ‘same same but different’ – not quite what we expected. For some, maybe a little disappointing – or taking some time to get used to, at least.
For all the talk of hybrid working for company staff, many ‘in the room’ services will return only in part. Virtual and support working is not only preferable to some team members, it can be quite an efficient way to operate. Face-to-face services are, by comparison, more expensive, less responsive and can include a lot of dead time thanks to no-shows or slower-than-predicted footfall.
Nobody in the Dark will resume, with support from Mastercard and this year from Lloyds Bank too. There will be 21 partners on the initiative, engaging with people in person, by phone and online but in turn connecting them all with the internet and the support and resources that exist there. Again, it will revolve around ways to use digital tools to become better off. As research from Lloyds has found, the pandemic accelerated digital transformation to where we’d expected to be in five years’ time. We don’t want digitally excluded people to be five years further behind.
JOINING THE DOTS
For me, digital exclusion is about more than access. People need the skills and confidence, yes, but also the desire to be there. If there’s nothing written for them when they get there, (accessible, engaging and useful), it will all be for nothing.
In the West of England, we’re adding a further dimension through a partnership with WDD, a laptop refurbishment enterprise. Together, we’re helping hundreds of excluded people on low incomes to pick up free devices. This also means keeping kit out of landfill and keeping costs down. Re-connecting can also be about joining up the thinking.
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