In today’s modern world, connectivity shapes how people live, work and belong. Yet, for many across the UK, that connection remains out of reach due to competing financial demands. Places for People’s 2024 Wellbeing Survey revealed that one in 10 affordable housing customers had recently cancelled their mobile or broadband contract in the last year.
What’s more, those who did were four times more likely to go without everyday essentials. The correlation between data poverty and other everyday essentials suggests that digital exclusion compounds every type of disadvantage.
This is perhaps unsurprising when you consider that, without data or devices, even routine tasks can become either extremely difficult or altogether impossible. After all, tasks like booking a GP appointment, accessing Universal Credit or helping a child complete homework are all increasingly dependent on connectivity.
How do Vodafone and Places for People work together?
Having recognised the relationship between data and other types of poverty, Vodafone made digital inclusion a key pillar of its social value commitment. Since doing so, the company’s flagship digital inclusion initiative – everyone.connected – has helped more than four million people and businesses cross the digital divide.
As one of Vodafone’s business customers, Places for People has benefitted from 950 free SIM cards in 2024/25 alone as part of Vodafone’s Social Value commitment, each offering its customers 40GB of data, and unlimited calls and texts each month, for six months.
This figure represents hundreds of stories of reconnection, between family, friends, prospective employers or simply among the local community.
How does the partnership between Vodafone and Places for People work?
The initiative between Vodafone and Places for People is designed around accessibility and reach, allowing SIM cards to be distributed to the people most likely to be excluded from digital life.
To do so, multiple routes are used:
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Frontline referrals and integrated support services: Community Housing Managers and support staff can directly request SIM cards for residents in need. Meanwhile, customers already receiving financial, wellbeing or energy advice through Places for People are also referred for digital support, since digital access underpins many other areas of wellbeing.
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Community schemes: Bundles of SIMs are distributed to homelessness services, youth programmes and community hubs, including Edinburgh’s Hay Avenue and Freshford House in Bristol.
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MiFi boxes: Families moving into temporary or supported accommodation receive portable WiFi boxes powered by Vodafone SIMs.
In addition, other digital support partners ensure that access and equipment are matched by growing confidence and ability. This includes Computers 4 Charity, which refurbishes devices for distribution, and AbilityNet, which provides digital skills coaching.
Whether it’s helping someone apply for a job, manage their tenancy online, or stay connected with loved ones, initiatives like our partnership with Vodafone make a real difference. We’re proud to have supported over 800 customers last year, and we’re committed to helping even more people become digitally empowered so they’re better equipped to thrive.
Marcus Hulme, Director of Places Impact, Places for People
The lives being changed by Vodafone and Places for People
The beneficiaries of this initiative reflect the diversity of the individuals in our society who face digital exclusion. This ranges from those fleeing domestic abuse or experiencing homelessness to young people taking their first steps into independent living and older residents or households facing financial hardship.
Ultimately, every SIM card tells a story and, for many, Vodafone’s digital inclusion initiative has not only changed their immediate situations, but their lives too.
How SIM cards help keep families connected
One Vodafone SIM reached the mother of a six-year-old son with ADHD. She had recently welcomed a newborn baby and also lives with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), a rare genetic disorder that causes progressive muscle weakness.
Speaking to a Places for People team member, she described the financial pressures facing her, explaining how she often ran out of credit and, as a result, struggled to stay connected to the services and people she relies on for support.
The free SIM card provided by Vodafone, however, allowed her to use the little money she saves to buy essentials like food and milk for her baby – something she says has made a real and immediate difference.
The free SIM card has been nothing short of a lifeline. Being able to reach out when she needs help, without worrying about phone credit, has lifted a huge weight off her shoulders.
Team member, Places for People
How SIM cards can boost young people’s independence
Places for People supported a group of young customers moving into a scheme in Preston. They were starting out with little, but the partnership between Vodafone and Places for People provided them with mobile phones, tablets and SIM cards.
As well as helping the young people stay in touch with friends and family, having access to digital devices gave them the foundation needed to start improving their living situation.
This simple connection to their support networks helped reduce feelings of isolation as they adjusted to a new environment. The impact of these digital devices has also supported the customers to take steps to positively improve their circumstances.
Scheme manager
How SIM cards help provide connection across borders
The free SIM cards have proven especially valuable to refugees, asylum seekers and migrants – individuals that often have no credit history and therefore struggle to gain access to devices or broadband.
For one unaccompanied 17-year-old asylum seeker, receiving a phone and a six-month SIM meant he could speak to his family again, alleviating some of the intense anxiety that the separation had caused him.
Vodafone’s targeted and innovative focus on digital inclusion is genuinely changing lives and making people feel seen and supported. We’re delighted to be working alongside them to measure that impact and tell the stories behind it.
Ross Hurman, Strategic Growth Director, Social Value Portal
Measuring impact with Social Value Portal
Vodafone’s digital inclusion commitments are rooted in accountability as well as connectivity.
That’s why the company partnered with Social Value Portal to measure and communicate the social impact of its work with Places for People.
In 2024/25, Vodafone and Places for People have distributed 950 free SIM, each worth around £120, equating to around £114,000 worth of technology.
Using the Social Value TOM System, Vodafone has been able to translate real-world outcomes into robust metrics that capture the lives it has improved across the UK. In total, since everyone.connected began in June 2021, the initiative has delivered almost £270 million in Social Value.
Looking for more inspiration?
Then explore our Social Value Success Stories, filled with examples of businesses delivering real impact that changes lives.
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