The Department for Education is partnering with broadband providers to offer disadvantaged families free data to support home learning during the latest Covid-19 lockdown.
Through the partnership schools are being urged to identify children without internet access to request the free data through the government’s Get Help with Technology programme.
Providers involved in the programme include EE, which announced this week that it is offering disadvantaged families 20GB of free data per month.
Also involved are broadband providers Three, Sky Mobile, SMARTY, Tesco Mobile and Virgin Mobile. This free data offer is available until July 2021.
The move comes as Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced this week that schools in England will close until at least February half-term as part of a fresh national lockdown to curb rates of Covid-19 infection.