Lloyds Banking Group is to drive forward government-led work to increase the digital capability of SMEs and charities across the UK and contribute to their target of reducing the number of people without basic digital skills by 25% by 2016.

This is part of the work overseen by the Digital Inclusion Delivery Board of which Lloyds Banking Group is the only bank to sit on. The working group will work with government, the digital skills charity Go ON UK and the six other partners to help businesses and charities make better use of information technology.

The first step for the working group will be to establish where the major gaps in support and provision for SMEs and charities are to help them increase their online skills. The group will also identify solutions by building on work and support carried out through Local Enterprise Partnerships and mentoring programmes and linking this to other stakeholders and Government departments.

The drive for improving digital skills follows the publication of the Lloyds Bank UK Business Digital Index, which showed that as many as 1.7 million organanisations in the UK have a very low level of digital capability and over a third of all SMEs and charities don’t have the basic online skills, as defined by the digital skills charity GO ON UK.

The research showed only half of SMEs and charities had a website at all and of those that did, internet functionality was very basic with only one in five allowing payments or donations from their site. Attitudes were also a cause for concern with almost a third of organisations stating the internet wasn’t relevant to their business or charity showing that a lot of SMEs and charities have a ‘digital blind spot’.

The working group will also explore the way that SMEs and charities are currently exploiting digital channels to manage and grow their organisations as well as how and where they access the necessary skills to make an impact online.

Miguel-Ángel Rodríguez-Sola, group director for digital, marketing and customer development at Lloyds Banking Group, said: “We’re proud to sit on the Digital Inclusion Delivery Board and chair this important piece of work for SMEs and charities. Through our partnership with Go ON UK, we understand the importance of digital and how valuable it can be for individuals, businesses and charities.

“We know that a big barrier is the perceived benefits of digital and that is one area the group will be focusing on. We can’t emphasis enough the benefits that the internet can bring for SMEs and charities – such as saving time, increasing revenue or reaching wider audiences. That’s why we are co-ordinating this work so that businesses and charities can reap the rewards from better digital skills.”