Waltham

A rural community in north east Lincolnshire explored how to ensure older people stay connected.

About Waltham

Waltham

Waltham is a village and civil parish of approximately 6,000 people in North East Lincolnshire. The selected neighbourhood in Waltham is home to 1,137 residents, out of which 608 are female and 529 are male, across 5 Output Areas (OAs). Demographic information includes:

Travel to work: Those who are in employment, typically travel to work by car/van - 73.7%, and 69.8% of all households own at least one car/van, reflecting Waltham’s rural nature.
Home ownership: Just under a third (30.9%) own their homes outright, 24.1% own with a mortgage or shared ownership, 28.8% socially rent while 16.2% privately rent their homes.
Health: In 2021, three quarters (70.2%) of all residents were in good or very good health while the remaining were in fair (19%), bad (7.8%) or very bad health (3%).
Disability/care: Just under three-in-ten (28%) of all residents are disabled, which limits their day-to-day life a little or a lot. Provision of unpaid care is present within the neighbourhood, with 10.7% of all residents identifying as an unpaid carer.
Deprivation: 35.9% of households are deprived in one dimension, 23.2% in two, 3.6% in three or more.

Digital Inclusion Challenge

The selected neighbourhood has a low digital propensity score compared to other areas in North East Lincolnshire, indicating that residents are significantly less likely to engage with digital services. A high proportion of one-person households among those aged 66+ further increases the risk of social isolation and digital exclusion.

The NELC team selected this neighbourhood for the study with the purpose of better understanding the barriers to digital inclusion for the older community - which may include digital skills, low confidence, access to devices, connectivity, and unwillingness to get online. The stakeholder team also understand the following from previous engagement:

Potential affordability barriers to internet access meaning devices and internet connections may be limited.
Offline choice preference for older people, who prefer non-digital methods.

Waltham Behavioural Systems Map

Each stakeholder group developed an objective for their neighbourhood Behavioural Systems Map. For Waltham, the focus was to explore key assumptions about support, and understand the current state of digital accessibility and activity:

Overthe course of four in-person and online workshops, stakeholders co-designed a behavioural systemsmap of digital exclusion:

Mapping highlighted 6 key behavioural clusters:

Digital-by-Default Systems / Council Services: This cluster focuses on the shift to digital-by-default services. This is characterised by both a lack of coordinated focus on digital inclusion support and limited knowledge of what effective support should entail.
Accessing Digital Services: This cluster reflects the point of interaction between older people and digital systems, where capability, trust, and social context determine whether older people engage with digital tools and services.
Signposting and Information Flows: This cluster illustrates signposting and referral systems, as well as how awareness of digital support spreads within the community; with limited and fragmented communication channels constraining engagement.
Receiving Support: This cluster represents local provision of support for older people struggling to access digital systems.
Acquiring Digital Skills: This cluster captures pathways to acquiring digital skills, including device access and connectivity, with a particular focus on psychological barriers for older people.
Social Connection: This cluster represents both a key motivation for digital engagement and an outcome of successful digital inclusion, linking digital capability to broader wellbeing.

"The interventions the group developed highlighted the importance of designing approaches that meet the needs of the target group. Behavioural Systems Mapping highlighted where interventions can be better tailored to individual needs."

Workshop facilitator

“Mapping with stakeholders who understand the local context, and are actively working with older people really set the method apart from other exercises. It was great to see participants connect and learn more about each others work with local communities."

Workshop facilitator

Geospatial Mapping

Geospatial mapping of Waltham explored digital exclusion through national and local datasets to further support the Behavioural Systems Mapping approach. Several key challenges contributing to exclusion were found, primarily:

Limited social connection due to high proportion of one-person households;
Affordability barriers may lead to limited device availability and broadband speed; and,
Lack of motivation to use digital devices; strong preference for in-person/paper methods.

This neighbourhood has a strong presence of trusted assets that are local to residents such as Waltham Library and local third-sector partners who deliver digital drop-ins in the local church and at-home visits. The Behavioural Systems Map suggests that the current support offer can benefit from stronger coordination, while the informal support is present but unevenly distributed, potentially reinforcing inequalities for those who are socially isolated.

Community Engagement Insights

Engagement undertaken in Waltham helped the research team to explore drivers and behaviours to validate the map and inform intervention development. Key insights included:

Strong pride of place: including its walkability, the convenience and appeal of assets, and the quality of the natural environment. This could be positively leveraged and built on for any support offer.
Under use of digital services driven by a range of factors: these included fear of scams and concern about personal details disappearing; low confidence; and current habits alongside things generally working well without being online.
Desire for digital support aligned to recurring issues or personal interests: participants noted that online banking, keeping in touch with family and friends, and paying bills were all important areas for support to focus on.

Intervention Blueprints

Behavioural Systems Mapping, spatial analysis and community engagement data were used to develop and refine a set of intervention blueprints. Find out more about these in our final report.

Library-Based Digital Support Hub and Device Access: A structured partnership is established between NELC, Lincs Inspire, Waltham Library, and local VCSE organisations to develop the library as a designated, community-based digital support hub.

Home-Based and Task-Focused Skills Support: the existing ‘digital buddy at home’ offer from local charity Friendship@Home is expanded and formalised to reach older people who are unable or unlikely to access community-based provision.

Trust-Building and Peer-Led Engagement: strengthening of trust and motivation by embedding digital engagement within existing information pathways and community networks. This builds on outcomes from other interventions through positive and relatable ‘digital success stories’.

Conclusion & Next Steps

The NELC team has identified a strong opportunity to now fully design interventions driven by this trial and their wider digital inclusion programme. This design can now happen within a better understood system.

To develop interventions further North East Lincolnshire Council recognises that testing with the target cohort will be key. This will form part of next steps.

Find out more about the research and download the report here