Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has launched a digital inclusion pilot bringing together a group of internet service providers, social housing providers and local authorities.
It plans to match BT, Hyperoptic, TalkTalk, Virgin Media O2 and Vodafone with one each of Bolton at Home, Southway Housing, Stockport Homes, Leigh Homes and Wythenshawe Community Housing Group to work on developing affordable internet access for social housing in the city-region.
GMCA said the pilot will involve each pairing exploring what is needed for a basic standard of connectivity among 1,000 residents, identifying barriers and developing sustainable interventions that could be replicated across the UK.
There will be a particular focus on people aged over 75, those with disabilities and vulnerable younger residents.
The work will involve engagement with local communities on how different cohorts are accessing digital services and what the minimum standards for connectivity in social housing should be.
Largest in Europe
The programme is aimed at reaching 5,000 households and is thought to be the largest digital inclusion social housing intervention in Europe.
It comes in response to estimates that up to 60% of social housing residents, who account for around 20% of the population in Greater Manchester, face varying levels of digital exclusion.
Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said: “I believe that digital connectivity should be recognised as a basic human right – and treated as a utility like water, gas, and electricity.
“By bringing together five of the UK’s biggest internet service providers with five social housing providers from across the region, we’ll be able to understand better the challenges behind that belief, as we attempt to tackle digital exclusion within social housing settings.”
GMCA said the pilot has already attracted interest from academic institutions working on digital inequality, and that its learnings will be shared in a series of virtual events beginning this month.
