By Chris Vallance, BBC Technology reporter
Broadband should be made more accessible to people on benefits by encouraging them to use discounted deals designed for them, experts say.
They told the Lords Digital Committee’s digital exclusion hearings that cutting VAT on broadband could help people who struggle with “digital exclusion”.
Rocio Concha, of consumer group Which?, urged action to get more people on benefits using cheaper social tariffs.
The government has called on firms to raise awareness of the deals.
The high cost of living continued to put household budgets under strain, resulting in more people being “pushed” into digital exclusion, chairwoman Baroness Stowell said in her opening remarks.
Experts told the committee that digital exclusion is a term that describes an interconnected set of problems with the internet, including:
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- no access to it
- not having a device to connect to it
- a lack of skills or confidence to use it
The committee heard that ending digital exclusion for key groups could generate £13.7bn in economic benefits over 10 years for only £1.4bn in cost, according to evidence from Rowlando Morgan, of economic consultancy The Centre for Economics and Business Research.
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