How AbilityNet transforms lives through technology: 2024 at a glance

Annie Mannion | 05 Mar 2025

In 2024, AbilityNet made great strides continuing our mission to support people of all ages and abilities in using technology to achieve their goals at home, work, and in education. 

Graphic showing two women and one older man with text in it about people supported - highlighted in text within the blog main body copy

By promoting digital inclusion and accessibility AbilityNet has helped to enhance the quality of life for digitally excluded individuals with a focus on disabled people and older people.

We have provided support by delivering digital support sessions, gifting devices, and creating a wealth of free tech-related resources.

Our corporate clients, having learned from testing and training opportunities, have become more confident in delivering digital accessibility and supporting their digitally excluded colleagues and customers.

Through the combination of those initiatives we generated an impressive £2.3 million in public benefit during 2024!

Three key ways AbilityNet has made a difference in 2024

1. People who received support were really satisfied

  • An impressive 94% of clients expressed satisfaction with AbilityNet's services.
  • The support provided has significantly improved clients' ability to use technology at home (98%), manage day-to-day life (78%), and participate in new activities (71%).
     
Susan, a 65-year-old from Brighton, received one-to-one support from a volunteer Digital Champion. She expressed her gratitude: "I didn’t think that when Judy arrived at my front door, and we had started this journey, that I would become this competent... come this far. I mean to me it’s a miracle."
"I never knew how to do certain things but now I do Zoom calls, Video calls, Group chats. Great session." - person who received our free digital skills support
"I can do my appointments online now and know how to protect myself from scammers”  - person who received our free digital skills support


2. Organisations feel empowered

  • AbilityNet's services have encouraged and enabled 95% of organisations to design and develop with accessibility in mind.

  • With our goal to create a digital world accessible to all, AbilityNet works with organisations and supports individuals with digital accessibility expertise via accessibility audits, training sessions, and user-testing services.
     

“AbilityNet is our preferred partner - nothing is ever too intimidating or too much...I can’t say how much I've learnt.” - Mimouna Mahdaoui, Social Impact, The Stepstone Group
John Hill, Head of Digital Learning at the University of Derby: "We wanted to be able to measure our progress in a tangible way. This is exactly what the AbilityNet/McNaught Maturity model gave us – all in the context and language of learning and teaching."

Graphic showing hands reaching up and text reads AbilityNet Impact Report 2024
3. AbilityNet's volunteers are very engaged

With our 531 AbilityNet Tech Volunteers around the UK contributing more than 21,946 hours of support between them during 2024, they've been instrumental in delivering digital skills and tech support to those in need.

Volunteers' high engagement score of 8.9 out of 10 reflects the positive impact and satisfaction among our volunteers, further enhancing AbilityNet's reach and effectiveness.

Learn about the impact AbilityNet's work made during 2024:
 

Download the Impact Report 2024

 

Download a text-only version of AbilityNet's Impact Report 2024 [Word doc]

Audio summary podcast

We're always keen to learn about new technology and its possible value for older and disabled people, so this audio summary has been built using AI with voice clones for AbilityNet's Mark Walker and his co-host, Gwen Bakewell. It's a different way of communicating, so please let us know what you think.

Download an audio summary of AbilityNet's Impact Report 2024 [MP3] and transcript [Word doc].

You can also listen to it via Podbean:

Free webinar: Travel made easy: Top apps for seniors on the goGroup of women at a booth in a cafe laughing
Join our free webinar on Tuesday 18 March 2025 between 11am - 11.45am GMT to learn about topics including: 

- Real-time transport updates
- Travel-related accessibility options
- RingGo parking app, and more!

Register your webinar place
 

Volunteer support and website assistance

Among the further highlights, the report reveals that in 2024, AbilityNet supported more than 7,500 people with digital skills through 6,771 digital support sessions, and we also gifted 1,541 devices

Delving into the detail of our Impact Report 2024 a little, some further highlights include:

As AbilityNet continues to expand its reach and impact, we remain committed to our values of integrity, inclusion, innovation, and collaboration.

The Impact Report highlights the significant strides we've made in 2024 in promoting digital inclusion and accessibility, transforming lives, and empowering communities through technology.

Moira Stuart standing in front of a coach at Blenheim PalaceAbilityNet works with partner organisations to expand our reach and help as many disabled people and older people as possible.

As part of the AbilityNet and BT Group partnership, we shared high-profile awareness-raising campaigns with celebrity support for improving the digital skills and confidence of older people and disabled adults, from Sir Geoff Hurst, Moira Stuart, and Linda Robson.
Learn more about BT Group and AbilityNet