The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations is the membership organisation for Scotland's charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises. Charity registered in Scotland SC003558. Registered office Caledonian Exchange, 19A Canning Street, Edinburgh EH3 8EG.
Digital inclusion cross-borders collaborative
A joint call to action ahead of the Senedd Cymru, Scottish Parliament and English local elections
Our manifesto asks for digital inclusion - across the nations
Cwmpas, the Scottish Council of Voluntary Organisations, and Good Things Foundation are working across the nations to take action on digital inclusion. This new cross-borders collaborative joins up our policy and our practice in Wales, Scotland, and England.
We need leadership and delivery at every level. This manifesto sets out the commitments we want to see from candidates and decision-makers across Great Britain.
What governments must do now
As we approach major elections across the UK, we are calling on candidates and governments to take digital inclusion seriously. Digital exclusion is both a cause and consequence of poverty and inequality. It is now a structural barrier to essential services, economic participation, education and democracy.
In spite of this, local and national governments have not yet embedded digital inclusion into their policies and programmes - resulting in millions still left behind (Digital Nation, 2025).
We ask our respective governments to commit to the following actions:
- Treat digital inclusion as public infrastructure, making it a cross-government responsibility, embedding the Minimum Digital Living Standard across policy areas, and baking digital inclusion into digital public service reform.
- Invest in locally delivered support, moving towards ringfenced, multi-year support for place-based digital inclusion work, simplifying process to improve accessibility for smaller, grassroots organisations.
- Tackle affordability as a major driver of digital exclusion, recognising connectivity and kit as essential by normalising and strengthening data poverty innovations, and investing in device repair and reuse schemes.
- Protect and expand local, in-person support, recognising the value of nearby, face-to-face digital support for different services (e.g. health, housing, employability, and advice) and continually help eradicate users’ fear, mistrust, and lack of confidence.
- Listen to those experiencing digital exclusion, recognising and valuing people with lived experience in the design and improvement of services to ensure they work for everyone.
Download our specific manifesto asks to candidates standing in the Scottish Parliament elections.