Yarlington wins digital funding for tenants

THE Yeovil-based Yarlington Housing Group has won Government funding to help get more of its tenants online, improve their skills and benefit from wider internet services.

Despite a growth in household internet connections and computer use over recent years, four million homes in the UK are still not connected to the internet Office of National Statistics data reports. Of the 17% of UK homes without internet access, twenty per cent said they lacked the computer skills needed to get online, while another 10% said they could not afford it.

Local housing association, Yarlington, is doing something to change this and following a successful bid, has been awarded funding as part of the Government’s Digital Deal to get more tenants on the worldwide web.

Yarlington will be working in partnership with social enterprise Cosmic, local charity IT Help @ Home, and IT company Perspicuity, to provide a range of support for residents from helping them find work, create CV’s or access information.

Ken Comber, head of communities at Yarlington, said: "We will be recruiting and training residents as Digital Champions, who will then support communities in accessing the internet and we will be launching a tablet loan scheme for our residents.

"A tour of Gadget Shows will give residents the opportunity to learn more about digital equipment and try it out. We’re really excited about being successful in our application and looking forward to working with our communities and being able to implement our ideas."

Yarlington was one of 12 landlords to receive funding from the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Communities and Local Government as part of the Digital Deal.

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