Digital inclusion: listening, leading and looking ahead

In March 2026, Good Things hosted "Digital Inclusion: listening, leading, looking ahead", an event designed to bring together diverse voices – including people with lived experience, digital inclusion leaders, and partners from across England, Scotland, and Wales - to network, reflect, and strategize for the future. We’re now sharing a report that outlines the key takeaways from that listening event. 

Exploring five key themes

Recognising the breadth of barriers, enablers and sectors where digital exclusion surfaces we centered discussions at our listening event around five critical themes:

• Skills & employability: 15% of the population still lacks foundational digital skills, a major barrier to economic opportunity.
• AI & emerging tech: 38% of adults feel less confident online due to the rise of AI, even as its use in the workplace grows (22%).
• Public services inc. healthcare: 92% of adults believe essential services now require an internet connection.
• Poverty, data poverty & financial inclusion: 24% of households struggle to afford communication services, yet high digital capability saves people £815 a year.
• Online safety & media literacy: Almost half of adult internet users (48%) would like to see more safety measures on online platforms.

Reflections on what we heard, and where we need to go together

Vicki Sellick MBE, Chief Executive at Good Things, shares her reflections on the event: 

Good Things is proud to partner with a network of 8,000 members across the UK, industry partners, charity sector peers and government, working together to ensure nobody faces digital exclusion. This collaborative spirit was evident in the room in March too - people from different sectors, geographies and experience sharing their stories of what has worked to date and what is needed for the future. 

There has been much progress in the last few years. More households than ever are connected (Good Things helping to connect 600,000 alone), there’s more awareness of the need for skills content to give adults confidence and increase safety online, and the Government’s landmark Digital Inclusion Action Plan set out strategic intent for the field. 

But as technologies rapidly evolve and AI becomes more present in our lives, the numbers who report feeling digitally confident is growing not shrinking - 38% of adults feel less confident online due to the rise of AI, accelerating the divide for the 15% of people who do not have foundational digital skills. Clearly there’s more to do.

Digital inclusion is everyone's responsibility. We need better design of services, better provision of skills training, better funding of support and more. And that will only come when we combine the insights, skills and resources of many. This event began to surface what is possible when we come together across sectors and geographies to imagine a new future. Now the challenge is to turn words into action, together. 

Read the full report

Download the full report for details on what we heard, where we are and our recommendations for five different themes.