The £11.9 million Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund funded over 80 projects across all nine regions of England, helping people get online safely and with confidence.

Funding was distributed broadly evenly across the regions, with each receiving between 10% - 13% of funded projects (approximately 17 - 23 projects as some projects span multiple regions). A number of these organisations focused on rural areas, such as Rural Media Charity, who supported older adults to improve confidence and access to online services in rural West Midlands communities.

The £11.9 million Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund funded over 80 projects across all nine regions of England, helping people get online safely and with confidence.

Funding was distributed broadly evenly across the regions, with each receiving between 10% - 13% of funded projects (approximately 17 - 23 projects as some projects span multiple regions). A number of these organisations focused on rural areas, such as Rural Media Charity, who supported older adults to improve confidence and access to online services in rural West Midlands communities.

The Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund was designed as a one-year programme to understand what works in digital inclusion, and how best practice or innovative approaches can be scaled to maximise local impact across the UK.

We remain committed to building a digitally inclusive society where no one is left behind, and plans for future support for digital inclusion are still in development.

We know that digital inclusion works best when it's delivered in local places by trusted people and organisations. The Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund is about backing local communities to close the digital divide, and grassroots organisations are fundamental to that process.

The Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund had 85 successful applications in England: a mix of charities, research organisations and local and combined authorities.

Around 73% of the organisations funded by the Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund are charities, many of which are local, grassroots voluntary organisations. We don't hold specific data on the annual income of organisations.

The Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund is about testing new ideas, learning what works, and supporting the best approaches so they can grow and benefit more communities across the UK. The Fund received 1016 applications from organisations across the country, amounting to a total request of over £170m for the £11.9m available.

Payment-in-arrears is the standard Government approach for grants. However, we recognise some stakeholders were concerned about payments-in-arrears and the short delivery window of the Fund. These issues are considerations we are taking forward as we continue policy development in this area.

Despite this, projects are continuing to deliver important outcomes for the people they support, such as supporting people to access the internet and building their digital skills.

We have appointed external evaluators who are working with grant recipients to understand the impact of the Fund. This will also involve assessing the process, including grant management and deliverability within the timescale.

We expect to receive their report in April 2026.

Everyone should be able to benefit from the digital world – helping families save money, get a better job, and access services like the NHS more easily.

But we know some people face real barriers. That’s why we published the Digital Inclusion Action Plan and launched the £11.9 million Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund, helping more people across the UK get the access, skills and confidence to get online.

Through the Fund we will better understand what works and what could be scaled to support more people. We are taking learnings from this Fund and research projects to develop future interventions, including any potential funding after this financial year.

This is just one of our First Steps, and the Government is clear that everyone should be able to benefit from the digital world – with more needed to ensure this.

Our ambition is that everyone in every corner of the UK, whatever their circumstances, can participate in our modern digital society. That’s why we launched the Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund – supporting local initiatives that increase digital participation and aim to meet the specific and diverse needs of digitally excluded people in communities across the UK.

Some applicants have been announced and DSIT are currently in the process of onboarding successful applicants of the Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund, with a regional spread across England. The department intends to announce and publish a full list of successful projects in due course.