Study shows the internet essential to modern life

The prominent Joseph Roundtree Foundation (JRF) has released its annual report on the public’s opinion on what UK people need to earn to achieve a socially acceptable standard of living.

Despite the austere financial climate, those questioned in the research haven’t reduced what they consider to be life’s bare essentials. They still feel as a minimum people need not just physical essentials like food, shelter and warmth, but also other necessities that allow them to contribute and be involved in Society.

The JRF study shows that a typical family of two adults and two children needs an annual income of at least £29,200 to afford the basics of life. For a single person the minimum is £14,400 – this equates to full-time job earning £7.38 per hour.

Interestingly a computer and home internet connection are now considered fundamental for all non-pensioner households. In the 2008 research, they were only considered essential for families with school-age children. As early as 1999 JRF were predicting that those with lower incomes were going to be excluded from the rapidly growing ‘electronic economy’ where increasingly everything from utilities to clothes was going to be sourced online.

In another study JRF has concluded that lack of broadband communications can have a serious affect on the futures of some communities.

The ‘digital divide’ between those who are able to exploit the potential of information and communications technologies (ICTs) via fast internet connections, and those who are not, is seen as a major factor influencing wider social and economic inequalities.

European satellite internet ISP Tariam continues to urge the Government in the UK to help disadvantaged communities and not-spots by looking more closely at the satellite broadband option.

Tariam Managing Director Andrew Walwyn said

“It’s frustrating to read the JRF studies and to be sitting here with the solution in our hands now. We can deliver 3.6 Mbps broadband to any home or site in the UK today with the minimum of fuss using our cheap home user solution Tooway. Customers in Wales are now eligible for the new Welsh Broadband Support Scheme meaning they if they’re in a not-spot we can get them online for free now.

“Lord Carter in his ‘Digital Britain’ report last year conceded that for up to 30% of the UK there’s little or no commercial case for anyone to invest in the next generation of broadband services. What’s clearly needed therefore is the UK Government to grasp the nettle and allocate some money to help the other communities and small businesses that are deprived of broadband”.

Back to Press Centre