Rural Digital Inclusion
Our Rural Digital Inclusion project was a community-led research project across five rural West Midlands communities. We worked to identify real barriers to digital inclusion – especially for those 60+ – then co-produce solutions with them to generate evidence and create media outputs for policmakers.
Watch now.
What does digital inclusion really look like in rural Britain? In this short film, people from five rural communities across the West Midlands share, in their own words, what it's like to live without reliable connectivity — from being cut off when phone lines went digital and the power failed, to relying on a mobile signal as a lifeline when there's no bus and no way to drive.
The film also looks at what's working: neighbours helping neighbours with smartphones, WhatsApp and photos, and what residents say would genuinely help — trustworthy, affordable, drop-in support delivered by people they know.
This is part of the Rural Digital Inclusion project, a community-led research initiative working with residents (especially those aged 60+) across five rural West Midlands communities to identify the real barriers to digital inclusion, co-produce practical solutions, and generate evidence for policymakers.
Funded by UK Government.
Current research and datasets on digital inclusion systematically failed to capture the unique challenges faced by rural communities. While the University of Liverpool's Minimum Digital Living Standard report provided valuable insights, suggesting that rural location doesn't necessarily correlate with poorer broadband speed, this surface-level observation masked the complex reality rural residents face daily. This project addressed a critical evidence gap by conducting a community-led investigation into genuine barriers preventing rural digital inclusion across the UK.
Three outputs tell one story. Our short documentary, voiced by project participants, captures the lived reality of digital exclusion in rural communities. Our community mapping identifies the assets, resources, connectors and infrastructure conditions that shape digital inclusion across five parish areas. And our data report analyses the research in full, offering practical, co-produced recommendations for change.
Conditions that shape digital inclusion across five parish boundary areas and the data report provides an analysis of our rural digital inclusion research and offers recommendation and practical co-produced solutions.
About the project.
The research.
Rural Digital Inclusion Research Report
Read the analysis of rural digital inclusion research carried out between January and March 2026.
Community Mapping Programme
Read the Community Mapping Programme report, a component part of a community-led research project across five rural West Midlands communities