A UK minimum digital living standard for households with children

This is an interim report which covers the first stage of the Minimum Digital Living Standard (MDLS) research. It reports on the development of MDLS and provides initial findings on what members of the public think is needed to meet MDLS for households with children. This proof-of-concept research establishes that the approach can provide not only a meaningful and accessible definition of an adequate standard of digital living, but also that members of the public can agree on what is needed for that to be reached. This report sets out the range of goods, services and skills that would enable households with children to meet MDLS and feel included in the digital world around them. While some households or individuals will need more in order to meet MDLS, urban households with children will need at least what has been described in this report. MDLS sets a benchmark which people agree households with children should be able to reach.

A full report including other strands of the research will be published at the end of the project. This will include: a UK-wide survey; statistical and geographic analysis to explore variation in reaching MDLS; stakeholder consultations to explore the relevance and intersectionality of the standard across key dimensions such as disability, ethnicity, rurality and poverty; and potential costings for the ‘basket’ of MDLS contents.