Respondents were given eleven digital tasks, and were asked which of the task they could do and which tasks they had done in the last 3 months. The answers to these questions were combined to identify a respondent’s digital skills.

Underpinning all of these skills is online safety.

•   21% (11.5m) of the UK are classified as not having Basic Digital Skills – this represents a 9% improvement, or a reduction of 1.1m people since 2015.
•   6% report having four of the five skills, suggesting many are close to achieving all five.
•   9% of people (1% decrease from 2015) have no Basic Digital Skills at all.
•   The younger generation of 15-24 year olds has also seen improvements – nearly all 15-24 year olds(97%) have Basic Digital Skills (4% increase); 0% have no skills at all (1% decrease).
•   Those who are at school, studying or in full-time employment are the most likely to have Basic DigitalSkills; those in retirement are the least likely, despite a 5% increase from 2015.
•   This year’s report sees an increased gap appearing between men and women’s skill levels. Women have remained at relatively similar levels: three-quarters (75%) now have all 5 skills (1% increase). By contrast, 84% of men now have all five skills – 4% increase.
•   The greatest disparity is within Problem Solving, where 87% of men, compared to 78% of women, have these skills – a 9% difference.
• Income continues to correlate with Basic Digital Skills, with those in the highest income bracket having 97% of all 5 skills

What next?:

Research from Nominet Trust found that the 300,000 young people who lack basic digital skills are also most likely to be facing multiple forms of disadvantage. In an increasingly digital society there is a danger that a lack of digital skills will leave those young people socially and economically left behind.

Through Digital Reach Nominet will be putting expert youth organisations at the heart of digital skills delivery for the first time. Supporting 12 delivery partners across six pilot projects, to initially support 4,000 young people.

“If we are to help the most vulnerable, we need to see digital skills as part of a broader effort to develop key life skills and build on the deep and trusted relationships that these organisations already have with the hardest-to-reach young people”. Chris Ashworth, Programme Director

Next Steps:

• Read the full Basic Digital Skills Survey here
• Find out more about Digital Reach and the work being undertaken by Nominet Trust here
• Find out more about how our Young Professional programme can help young people develop their skills here