Bridging the Digital Divide: A call for inclusive London action

The UK Government’s recent Digital Inclusion Action Plan marks a significant step towards a more connected and equitable country. However, meaningful progress requires more than national strategies—it demands regional, community-led innovation, grassroots action, and long-term investment in those most affected by digital exclusion. 

Since 2016, IFB Gaming (IFB), through the National Digital Inclusion Network, has been at the forefront of bridging the digital divide in London and beyond. Our work has directly supported low-income individuals, refugees, asylum seekers, and those with no recourse to public funds, ensuring they are not excluded from an increasingly digital world.

Through our Planetary and Social Responsibility (Empowering Futures) Team, we’ve demonstrated the power of gaming as an engagement tool, making digital literacy both accessible and enjoyable. 

By integrating digital inclusion with sustainability goals, we’ve also championed device recycling with Community Tech Aid in Southwark and Lambeth. This ensures that access to technology is both affordable and environmentally responsible—all in line with John Adewole’s 7-Pillars of Future-Proofed Communities and London’s sustainability agenda.

Accessibility in digital inclusion is about designing and implementing digital tools, platforms, and content to ensure that everyone—regardless of ability—can access, understand, and use them.

It means removing barriers that prevent individuals, particularly those with disabilities, from engaging with technology and fully benefiting from citizenship, education, living, commerce, healthcare and policy.

In the context of digital inclusion, accessibility means ensuring that:

1. Digital content (websites, apps, documents, etc.) is usable by people with visual, auditory, motor, cognitive, or other impairments.

2. Technology (hardware and software) is designed to be inclusive, offering features such as screen readers, subtitles, voice recognition, or adaptive input devices.

3. Services and programmes are accessible to all individuals, regardless of their physical or digital capabilities, ensuring no one is excluded due to technological barriers.

4. Digital literacy is inclusive, enabling people from all backgrounds to develop the skills to use digital tools in ways that enrich their personal, social, and economic lives.

Building on the momentum of these successful initiatives and the Government’s Digital Inclusion Action Plan, we propose the following policy actions to further scale and sustain digital inclusion efforts across London.