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Good practice Imported

Smart Homes

United Kingdom · Saffron Walden · National · See the United Kingdom profile

The aim of the ‘Smart homes’ scheme is to help older and disabled people get digital skills and tackle loneliness in rural areas. The scheme is part of funding awarded to innovative projects to help people develop digital skills. A number of ‘smart homes’ with digitally savvy old

Smart Homes

Details

Maturity
Pilot
Promoter
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) — website
Type
Service
Status
Ongoing
Target groups
Elderly people
Period
2019-01-01
Keywords
digital skills, loneliness, older people, digital assessment, home tech

Context

With an ageing population increasingly reliant on online services, the Smart Homes scheme addresses the risk that older and disabled people in rural areas are left behind digitally and socially isolated.

Objectives

To help older and disabled people build digital skills and reduce loneliness in rural areas by demonstrating everyday uses of technology in real homes run by trained peers.

Activities

A partnership led by Uttlesford Council for Voluntary Service trains local older homeowners as 'digital boomers': they receive a digital skills assessment and have their homes fitted out with technology, then open their homes to other older residents to learn — with support from younger volunteer 'digital buddies' — how to control household appliances, book GP appointments online, video-call family and friends, and shop online. The scheme was one of three projects funded through DCMS's Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund, which shared a total of £400,000 across all three.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — This scheme was one of three projects sharing a total £400,000 from DCMS's Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund; the project-specific share is not stated on the page, so cost is estimated conservatively as low given the small, localised scope (a handful of demonstration homes in one rural area).
Time to results
Short (< 1 year) — The page gives only a start date (2019-01-01) with no end date or duration; treated as a short-term pilot scheme consistent with typical small innovation-fund projects.
Staffing & skills
Local older homeowners trained as 'digital boomers' to demonstrate technology in their own homes, Younger volunteer 'digital buddies' provide additional peer support

Conditions for success

  • Delivered by Uttlesford Council for Voluntary Service, a local voluntary-sector partner, rather than central government directly
  • Peer-to-peer, in-home demonstration model rather than classroom-based training

Where it fits

Governance type
government-funded pilot delivered through a local voluntary-sector organisation
Scale
local/rural (West Essex)
Income level
high income (UK)

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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