New £3m Fund Targets Digital Exclusion in Leeds

A new fund wants to put the city’s unused laptops and phones into the hands of the tens of thousands of Leeds residents who remain offline

Tackling digital exclusion in Leeds is the focus of a new multi-million-pound fund that aims to rehome the city’s unused technology with people who need it. Telecoms group Virgin Media O2 has launched a £3m Tech Rehome Network Fund, running to 2030, to help councils, charities and community organisations collect unwanted devices and pass them to residents who are offline. The first £500,000 round is open now. It targets a real local problem: being shut out of the online world increasingly means being shut out of jobs, services and opportunities.

Why This Matters For Leeds

Digital access is now essential to finding work, running a business, banking and reaching public services so residents without it are at a real economic disadvantage. Getting more people online widens the workforce Leeds employers can draw on and helps households engage with the digital economy. Funding that strengthens the city’s existing digital-inclusion efforts is a sensible investment in a more connected local economy.

The Scale of Digital Exclusion in Leeds

Estimates of how many people are affected vary but all point to a significant number. Leeds Libraries, part of the council’s long-running 100% Digital Leeds programme, estimates around 90,000 people in the city lack basic digital skills – whether that means no internet access, or limited confidence and ability to use it. Virgin Media O2’s own study puts the number of digitally excluded Leeds residents at around 62,000. Nationally, research bodies estimate that between 15% and 20% of UK citizens are affected by limited digital access. The barriers are usually a mix of cost, devices, connectivity and skills, and they fall hardest on groups already facing disadvantage, including people on low incomes, survivors of domestic abuse and those experiencing homelessness. Leeds already has an active network of community organisations and council backed schemes, from device-lending to skills training, working to close that gap – the infrastructure the new fund is designed to strengthen.

“Leeds residents clearly want to use their unused tech to help people in their community, but too often they don’t know where to start.”

— Dana Haidan, Chief Sustainability Officer, Virgin Media O2

Turning Unused Tech Into Opportunity

The fund’s premise is that the devices needed to help already exist, unused, across the city. Virgin Media O2’s research estimates Leeds homes and businesses are sitting on around 3.8 million unused phones, tablets and laptops of which roughly two-thirds could be reused or repaired. Those figures are the company’s own estimates modelled from survey responses, but they point to a real opportunity: tackling digital exclusion partly by having businesses donate upgraded equipment rather than store it. The first £500,000 funding round is open to councils, charities and community organisations until 30 October.