The arrival of COVID-19 has forced most of us to adopt technology overnight, just in order to manage our affairs like work and education. But with around 37 per cent of people in Newham living in poverty, how are they coping?

In April 2020, social change charity GoodThings Foundation called for urgent action to address the impact of Covid-19 on the 1.9 million households in Britain left isolated without access to the internet because they cannot afford it. Based on past trends and adjusted for population, that figure is likely to be around 11,000 people in Newham.

Newham Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz wrote to Prime Minister Boris Johnson Bridging our digital divide last year asking for support to “level up” the residents of Newham. In her letter, she drew attention to the “digital divide impeding learning”, “flexibility in the timing of re-opening schools”, and essential “government support to ensure they have access to wifi and IT.”

Digital exclusion puts people at risk. This may mean choosing between food or data; or for those dependent on physically meeting friends and family to manage, being unable to connect online could have a major impact on mental health.

For schools, exclusion is a key concern. Maryland Primary School, Stratford has worked hard to ensure their students are not disadvantaged by learning from home. Throughout lockdown they have distributed laptops provided by the Department for Education and loaned their own classroom Chromebooks to students. Through government and network provider schemes, they assist families to get access to the internet. A school admin team manages calls from parents with difficulties and remote learning guidance is also provided on the school’s website.

Maryland Deputy Head, Darren Lock, said: “Prior to the lockdown we carried out a device and connectivity survey with our families. Devices were initially allocated to those families who did not own at least one suitable device to use at home. We have since received additional requests for devices from parents who have only one device but have multiple siblings who need to use the device each day. Circumstances such as these are now also being used to assess education vulnerability.”

Maryland Primary has 62 families using loaned devices (38 from the DfE, 24 from the School); and one family receiving extra data allowance through the government scheme.

Access to online services is a particular issue when it comes to the elderly. Apart from being disproportionately under exposed to devices, they are also disadvantaged in terms of the necessary skills. Under lockdown, lack of access or knowledge means they must rely on trusted family or friends, or face greater risk of isolation and susceptibility to fraud.

Custom House and Canning Town community neighbourhood centre was running computer skills classes, but these stopped with lockdown.

Mr. Joseph Charles, 84, from Plaistow said:

I was really enjoying learning about the computer. I was getting used to the mouse, opening files and started learning to use the internet. Newham does some really good things for the community. I am very grateful to Newham for these services.

Mr Charles said he was keen for things to get back to normal so he can re-join his computing class.

➤ 8 per cent of people living in Newham had no access to the internet via broadband or mobile (Mori Poll, commissioned by Newham Mayor, Rokhsana Fiaz in 2017)

➤ 37 per cent of people live in poverty in Newham (Trust for London April 2020)

➤ 5 per cent of people in Newham have never used the internet (Office of National Statistics 2018)

➤ 49 per cent of people in Newham aged 75 years and over have never used the internet (Office of National Statistics 2018)

➤ 35.2 per cent (approximately 3.2 million people) of people in London are ‘limited or non-users’ of the internet

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