Labour’s Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund is part of a new government’s Plan to provide free technology to older and disabled individuals, low-income households, and jobseekers
State pensioners are in line to receive free laptops and mobile phones as part of a new £9.5million fund aimed at increasing digital inclusion. The Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund is a key component of the Labour Party government’s Plan for Change.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has highlighted that digital exclusion is hindering too many individuals from realising their full potential.
The DSIT confirmed: “Funding will be awarded based on merit to the highest scoring applications, while ensuring as much as possible that projects are funded across all nine regions of England.” Meanwhile reports state DWP state pensioners are set to be given ‘extra £352’ completely free.
The fresh funding will primarily target those of state pension age, specifically those born before 1959, who are less likely to utilise the internet. The initiative includes donating devices such as mobile phones and laptops to those digitally excluded.
Local councils and authorities will be tasked with distributing the free tech. Labour Party Telecoms Minister, Sir Chris Bryant, said: “It is unacceptable that in 2025, millions of people across the UK simply can’t access the vast opportunities that technology and the online world offers.
“Digital inclusion is an essential for modern life and work, not just something that’s nice to have, and it forms a critical part of our Plan for Change.”
He added that by “making technology widely accessible,” it could be, for example, be what allows a “sick patient to speak to a GP remotely – or [what] helps a young person apply for a job”.
The minister explained their funding as a means to move “further to empower local leaders and groups nationwide, who are already working tirelessly to get their communities connected and change countless lives for the better”.
The Government recently unveiled its Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund as part of the Digital Inclusion Action Plan. This also includes an ambition to run a device donation scheme, where re-purposed Whitehall laptops will be given to those in need.
According to the plan, older and disabled individuals, low-income households, and jobseekers are among the groups most likely to be digitally excluded.
Meanwhile, the DWP launched the scheme in 2025 for disabled individuals who were moved from “legacy benefits” – Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) – to Universal Credit before current protection was implemented.
Leigh Day lawyers pursuing the case have been reported by the Mirror to be pressuring the DWP to disclose the exact calculations of the payments lost, highlighting where claimants’ pay-outs may not have been “legally correct”.