Free support to Get Online!

During Get Online Week, from 20 October, lots of free support is on offer at venues across the borough to help people with no digital access to upskill and grow their confidence.

A wide range of partners in Blackburn with Darwen are delivering a variety of skills-building sessions including drop-in support sessions, topic focussed sessions such as online banking and digital skills and employability, and longer-term digital skills courses.

52% of UK adults don’t have essential digital skills for work, and millions still face barriers to digital confidence, from fear of AI to not feeling safe online – so says Good Things Foundation which leads Get Online Week every October.

The aim of Get Online Week is to help people take practical steps to build their confidence and independence with navigating the online world.

Councillor Shaukat Hussain, Executive Member for Digital and Customer Services, commented:

Research from Good Things Foundation highlights how low digital confidence and skills can impact people finding and taking job opportunities, making savings and getting involved in online activities.

Getting online and learning new digital skills can help you to save money on your bills, find work, stay in touch with friends and family and much, much more – but it can be hard to know where to turn if you need some help to get started.

I’m really pleased that through Blackburn with Darwen’s Digital Inclusion Network, partners have mobilised to offer a range of activities and learning opportunities during Get Online Week to support people who want to boost their digital skills.

In Blackburn with Darwen, the Council and its partners in the Digital Inclusion Network are providing a number of free Get online Week activities:

 

Events in Blackburn Central Library 

Event	Date	Time
Digital Resources Promotion – BorrowBox & Comics Plus	Monday October 20	11am – 12pm (Main library area)
Digital Resources Promotion – BorrowBox & Comics Plus	Monday October 20	2 – 3pm (main library area)
Library Online Resources	Monday October 20	10am
Online Banking with Halifax	Tuesday, October 21	10am
Affordable Internet	Wednesday, October 22	10am
Reminiscence Session – ‘Blackburn Library: Pages from the Past’	Thursday, October 23	10am – (The Hub)
Introduction to Ancestry	Friday, October 24	10am
Green Libraries	Saturday, October 25	11am – 12:30pm & 1:30 – 3pm

 

 

More events across various venues: 

 

Organisation	Event	Date & Time	Location
Blackburn with Darwen Adult Learning	ICT Skills & Job Club	Tuesday 9:30–11:30am Wednesday 9:30–11:30am Thursday 1–3pm	Darwen Community Helpers (Tues) Bank Top NLC (Wed) Audley NLC (Thurs)
Blackburn with Darwen Adult Learning	Essential Digital Skills – Digital Communication	Starts Wed 23 Oct, 9:30–11:30am (2 weeks)	Various venues (see brochure)
Age UK	Online Safety Information Stall	Wed 22 Oct, 10am–12:30pm	Blackburn Mall
Libraries	Daily “Get Online Week” Sessions	Mon–Fri, 10am (Fri also 2pm)	All Blackburn with Darwen Libraries
IMO Charity	Feeling Confident Online – Interactive SEND Session	Sun 26 Oct, 3–5pm	Blackburn Youth Zone (BYZ)

 

Get Online Week is Good Things Foundation’s annual digital inclusion campaign, and runs this year from Monday 20 to Sunday 26 October.

The aim is to help people who are currently digitally excluded to discover the benefits of being online and build their confidence in using the internet.

Find out more about Get Online Week on the Good Things Foundation website.