1.1m UK households in poverty cannot afford social broadband tariffs, research finds

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has teamed up with Autotrader, the University of Liverpool and Good Things Foundation to launch a five-year plan for making internet access affordable to all.

The partners also want stronger national action on digital poverty across the UK.

The roadmap was published alongside fresh analysis of how hard households across the country are finding it to pay for connectivity. Its release comes ahead of next week’s Budget, the first by the Government of Andy Burnham, the former Greater Manchester Mayor and now Prime Minister, who has put the “cost of living” at the top of the agenda.

The research

Researchers at the University of Liverpool estimate that 1.1 million UK households in poverty could not pay for broadband even on a discounted social tariff.

By their calculations, internet bills alone take up 3% or more of income for 5.2 million households. When all telecommunications costs are counted, 11 million households are spending at least that proportion.

The partners say the figures show how far internet access has become a basic need, with households increasingly depending on being online for work, education, healthcare, banking and public services.

For Greater Manchester, the university analysed data from the ONS Living Costs and Food Survey. It estimates that around 221,000 households in the city region put 3% or more of their income towards internet costs alone, and that about 56,000 households in poverty there could not afford a discounted social tariff.

Four focus areas

Autotrader, the Manchester technology company, funded the six-month project behind the roadmap, which was carried out with the GMCA, Good Things Foundation and the university.

It pulls together academic research, regional policy knowledge, private sector insight and the experience of communities to identify practical fixes for digital exclusion that could be used nationwide.

Building on Greater Manchester’s record on digital inclusion, it sets out what more can be done so that nobody is left offline because of poverty. Stakeholder workshops and people with lived experience helped shape it, and it proposes ‘quick wins’ as well as actions over the short-to-medium and longer term across four areas.

Social housing: every social housing tenant should be able to get affordable broadband. The plan proposes removing infrastructure obstacles, building on the Greater Manchester Good Landlord Charter and designing connectivity into new housing schemes.

Cost-of-living support: low-income households should be able to get connectivity that suits them. Measures include making good use of discretionary funding, for example the current Crisis & Resilience Fund, and promoting national social tariffs locally.

Community spaces and local infrastructure: free and secure public Wi-Fi should be on offer in trusted local venues, among them libraries, community groups and Live Well Centres, extending the GM One Network.

Priority groups: internet access and digital inclusion should be ‘baked in’ when statutory services for priority groups are commissioned. Those groups include young care leavers and people and families living in temporary or insecure housing.

What the partners said

Bev Craig, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said: “My commitment as Mayor is to make life easier and more affordable for people across our city region. That must include tackling data poverty and ensuring no one is priced out of the opportunities and support that many of us access online every day.”

Craig added: “As Mayor, I am expanding the Greater Manchester data bank which will support tens of thousands of residents, so that they can do things like access healthcare, manage their finances and stay connected.”

Christos Tsaprounis, people & culture director at Autotrader, said: “Digital inclusion is no longer a nice-to-have; it’s a prerequisite for participation in modern society. Yet people across Greater Manchester still face barriers to getting online or realising the full benefits of the digital world.”

Tsaprounis added: “This roadmap shows that real change takes collaboration across sectors – charities, the business community and the public sector – to ensure no one is excluded from opportunities simply because they lack digital access.”