Trafford Tech4All Campaign

Briefly describe the initiative/ project/service; please include your aims and objectives 

Recognising that lack of access to suitable devices hinders digital skill development, Trafford Council partnered with a nonprofit tech refurbishment partner, Community Computers, to wipe, relicense and repurpose devices donated to Trafford Council by partners through their social value commitments, to be reused for social good. Our main focus is to bridge the digital divide and get the residents of Trafford connected, as part of our digital strategy at Trafford we wanted to take a creative approach to addressing digital inclusion and want to ensure our communities, have connectivity, devices and get access to digital skills they need, which will support them in getting access to services and jobs. We know that local authorities cannot solve these issues alone and its key to get the right partners involved within the communities to make the difference and the approach sustainable. 

 

The journey of the Tech4All campaign began back in 2023 when Trafford Council and Virgin Media O2 partnered on a community engagement project in Partington. The initiative increased access to affordable devices and connectivity for low income and disadvantaged residents, including a pilot pop-up shop offering refurbished laptops at a subsidised cost. The popup shop was delivered using a small donation of retired business laptops from a housing association partner with the premise that if the project could evidence social impact and good outcomes for residents, more devices could be pledged in future. The shop allowed residents on means-tested benefits to purchase a refurbished ex-business laptop for a heavily subsidised cost of £60, as well as providing information on social broadband tariffs and free data through the National Databank. 

 

The pilot was successful, resulting in 39 devices sold to the Partington community and an additional 37 devices gifted to service users and school children identified as in need by community services and schools in the area. The success of the pilot led to further donations from partners, providing enough decommissioned tech to support a large-scale project with the capacity to assist hundreds of in-need families across the Trafford borough. In May 2024, Trafford Council launched a hugely successful Trafford Tech4All campaign, supporting over a thousand residents with refurbished laptops, free data, discounted broadband and digital skills training at pop-up events in Old Trafford, Lostock, Altrincham and Sale. 

 

What are the key achievements? 

Device Repurposing 

Trafford’s agreement with tech-refurb partner, Community Computers, creates an innovative asset disposal programme for local and national businesses who wish to dispose of unused IT equipment and deliver social impact. The agreement between partners ensures that devices donated to Trafford Council are data-cleansed, refurbished and relicensed and made available to Trafford residents on means-tested benefits. A portion of the device donation is also made available to support Trafford’s Digital Inclusion Team and their projects, such as making devices available to young people in Trafford’s care system to support their education. 

 

Community Impact 

In total, over 1000 residents came to access support at the events and 265 devices were provided to low-income Trafford families through the Tech4All campaign. Over 350 residents were supported with free O2 SIM cards via the National Databank, providing free connectivity to residents struggling to stay online. 

 

The Tech4All campaign has positively impacted many lives in Trafford, including that of Ms Dube who benefitted from purchasing a device at Altrincham’s Tech4All event. Ms Dube explained that the laptop will allow her to finish her online training course and apply for jobs. Ms Dube was halfway through a software training course when her last laptop broke and she was struggling to afford to replace it until Trafford Tech4All made access to good quality laptops more affordable. Having a working laptop at home will also help Ms Dube’s daughter with her school studies and coursework. 

 

Commenting on the initiative, 49-year-old foster carer, Mrs Myers shared her experience: “this is a fabulous scheme and I am so pleased I was able to benefit from it. I gave up my career to be a foster carer and will use my laptop to help me get back into the world of work after being out of the job market for so long due to personal caring commitments.” As well as purchasing her cut-price device on the day, Mrs Myers also enrolled in a local digital skills course to enhance her skills and get the most out of her new laptop. 

 

Digital Skills Training 

Alongside devices and connectivity, the Tech4All campaign also provided an opportunity for residents to engage with digital skills training. Trafford Council has been delivering hyperlocal digital skills training in community venues with adult education partner, Xyrius Training, since January 2024. These courses, available at Level 2 and Level 3, help residents to gain digital skills, qualifications and improve their employability. The courses are delivered in the heart of the most in-need communities between the hours of 10-2pm, providing an ‘on the doorstep’ opportunity for residents to access training whilst removing barriers to access for parents with school-age children. The hyperlocal model has also been hugely successful in engaging residents with mental health struggles as, unlike regular higher educational courses, they deliver in small classes within familiar venues. At the end of course completion, not only do learners receive a much-needed CV-boosting accreditation, they also earn a device to enable them to get online at home. So far, over 200 unemployed adults have engaged with this initiative, improving both their confidence and employability and the number is continues to grow. By helping residents gain the necessary digital skills and device access required in today’s world, Trafford Council have enabled them to benefit from and interact with various Council and other essential services online. 

 

Environmental Impact 

The Tech4All campaign provides an innovative solution to IT asset disposal which tackles corporate e-waste and delivers social impact. The initiative addresses environmental concerns by recycling and repurposing decommissioned devices which still have plenty of life left in them, keeping them out of landfill and ensuring that the technology reaches those who need it most. By partnering with Community Computers, the Council estimates that 192,010 kilograms of carbon and 3,495 kilograms of landfill have been saved through this campaign and more will continue to be saved in future as the Council commits to repurposing its own corporate assets through the innovative Tech4All programme. Over 1000 people accessed the events 265 households gained access to a high-quality laptop Over 325 residents benefitting from free SIM card connectivity 

 

Established 2 classroom locations (St John’s and Lostock) to support digital training for years to come , Arranged and filled several digital training courses throughout the campaign, almost 300 residents have since earned accreditations this way GMP supported with guidance on online safety and scam awareness Donated laptops to individuals identified as high-need including care leavers and young people identified by local schools Updated figures as of 13/12/24: Since Tech4All began, almost 2000 dev 

 

How Innovative is your initiative? 

The initiative was innovative in that it addressed more than one issue which the borough faced, and fully aligns with our corporate plan priorities. We provide social value to famililes, skills & learning, increasing employability for our residents, whilst we work on ‘saving the planet’ and addressing climate change. 

 

With this approach both Trafford Council and Community computers took their roles very seriously, we needed to find a way to get low income families access to a digital life. 

 

Our teams are using linked in and social media to canvass more partners to get involved and donate devices/data – we are promoting our positive work and the impact and people want to be part of it. 

 

The community-centred initiative has demonstrated how businesses and local authorities can work together to tackle digital exclusion and bring about lasting change for residents. Determined to sustain the momentum, the Council is now calling on businesses to join the campaign by donating laptops, tablets and smartphones to ensure that residents in need can access affordable technology to stay online. Since Tech4All began, almost 2000 devices have been donated by businesses to the circular economy model. 

 

Over 700 good quality devices have been repurposed, with over 450 devices sold to residents at low-cost and over 300 devices gifted to residents in need. 

 

With partners, we have collectively saved 292,683kg of carbon and 5119kg of waste from landfill, supporting our green agenda. 

 

Over 1300 SIMs gifted through Trafford Libraries to residents experiencing data poverty 

 

What are the key learning points? 

Community Computers as a partner have been able to develop and scale the approach which we took forward at Trafford and are also working with other authorities across GM as a result, creating further/wider impact to residents of GM as well as taking steps into developing a national offer. 

 

The approach is very scalable 

Engagement is key – its important to understand the local communities and their needs, canvas what they need and get them on board. 

Expect the unexpected – our first launched event was in such demand, we ran out of devices on the day. 

Don’t be scared to reach out – Trafford are now talking to big players and have secured devices from organisations such as Royal Mail 

 

Not every device is suitable – we know what our requirements need to be and some donations can cost more to recycle than they are worth being repurposed… 

 

Data is king – people need to connect