In March 2026, DSIT published its one-year progress report on the Digital Inclusion Action Plan. The headline: more than one million people helped to get online. That’s real. That matters. And it’s still not enough.
The numbers worth knowing
- 22,000+ devices donated through the IT Reuse for Good Charter and the government’s own device refurbishment pilot.
- An £11.9 million Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund supporting 80+ community projects across the UK.
- Three UK donating nearly 1.5 million GB of mobile data to the Good Things Foundation’s National Databank.
- Virgin Media O2 connecting over 1 million digitally excluded people through affordable access and refurbished devices.
All commitments from the original Action Plan have been delivered or are on track. By government standards, that’s an unusually clean scorecard.
Where the gap still sits
Context changes the picture: 1.6 million adults in the UK still lack a laptop, tablet, or smartphone. 1.7 million households have no internet connection. Up to 19 million adults experience some form of digital poverty, and 45% of households with children fail to meet the Minimum Digital Living Standard.
22,000+ devices donated in a year is progress. But set against 1.6 million people without a device, it covers less than 1.5% of the need.
The government’s own device refurbishment pilot, which has been renewed until August 2026, delivered around 200 devices. Two hundred. From the entire UK government estate.
The IT Reuse for Good Charter: the framework that could change the ratio
Launched in June 2025 by DSIT, Good Things Foundation, VodafoneThree, and Deloitte, the IT Reuse for Good Charter now has 43 signatories. Organisations that sign pledge to take a ‘reuse first’ approach to their IT assets: securely wipe them, refurbish them, and gift them to digitally excluded people across the UK.
The Charter’s signatories include major enterprises, government departments, local authorities, and specialist ITAD providers. MHCLG was the first department to sign up and published a blog post in May 2026 sharing practical lessons from their experience. The list now spans organisations like Virgin Media O2, BT, National Grid, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and the DVLA, alongside specialist partners who handle the secure data wiping and refurbishment that makes reuse possible at scale.
This is the infrastructure that turns a pledge into a pipeline. It’s also where the 22,000 figure starts to make more sense: the Charter is less than a year old, and the network is still growing.
What happens next
DSIT has committed to updating the Essential Digital Skills Framework during 2026. A refreshed Essential Digital Skills Survey launches in 2027. The Telecoms Consumer Charter, agreed in February 2026, pushes providers to end surprise price rises and make social tariffs easier to find.
But the biggest lever is device supply. Government departments sit on thousands of end-of-life laptops. So do large enterprises. Most of those devices are three to four years old, perfectly capable of a second life, and currently going to recyclers who shred them.
The Charter exists to redirect that flow. The more organisations that sign up, the more devices reach the people who need them. And the more the 22,000 figure becomes a rounding error in a much bigger number.
If your organisation retires IT devices and hasn’t looked at the IT Reuse for Good Charter, it’s worth five minutes of your time. The government built the framework. The signatories are proving it works. The gap is still 1.6 million people wide.