Digital Inclusion Cross-borders Collaborative with Cwmpas, SCVO, and Good Things Foundation

A joint call to action ahead of the Senedd Cymru, Scottish Parliament and English local elections

Cwmpas, the Scottish Council of Voluntary Organisations, and Good Things Foundation are working across the nations to take action on digital inclusion. This new cross-borders collaborative joins up our policy and our practice in Wales, Scotland, and England.

We need leadership and delivery at every level. This manifesto sets out the commitments we want to see from candidates and decision-makers across Great Britain.

What governments must do now

As we approach major elections across the UK, we are calling on candidates and governments to take digital inclusion seriously. Digital exclusion is both a cause and consequence of poverty and inequality. It is now a structural barrier to essential services, economic participation, education and democracy.

In spite of this, local and national governments have not yet embedded digital inclusion into their policies and programmes - resulting in millions still left behind (Digital Nation, 2025).

We ask our respective governments to commit to the following actions:

1. Treat digital inclusion as public infrastructure - making it a cross-government responsibility, embedding the Minimum Digital Living Standard across policy areas, and baking digital inclusion into digital public service reform.
2. Invest in locally delivered support - Moving towards ringfenced, multi-year support for place-based digital inclusion work, simplifying process to improve accessibility for smaller, grassroots organisations. 
3. Tackle affordability as a major driver of digital exclusion - Recognising connectivity and kit as essential by normalising and strengthening data poverty innovations, and investing in device repair and reuse schemes.
4. Protect and expand local, in-person support - Recognise the value of nearby, face-to-face digital support for different services (e.g. health, housing, employability, and advice) and continually help eradicate users’ fear, mistrust, and lack of confidence.
5. Listen to those experiencing digital exclusion - Recognising and valuing people with lived experience in the design and improvement of services to ensure they work for everyone.