Digital skills include using digital collaboration tools or managing digital records and files.

Companies are increasingly demanding these skills as a routine part of the job, with a 15% surge in the number of employees who need to be online.

The latest Lloyds Bank Consumer Digital Index survey of more than one million UK adults found that many people don’t have a basic understanding of online tasks including – using search engines finding information online (21%), managing money online (27%) and keeping safe online (34%).

One in 10 people can’t even turn on a smartphone or laptop. 4.1million (8%) have not used the internet over the last three months. This is not just a problem for older people – half of those who are offline (48%) are under 60 years old, and (47%) are from households with low income.

The data showed that even among those who are tech-savvy, digital skills are not necessarily reflected in the workplace. More than three quarters (78%) of employees go online to help solve problems in their everyday lives, while only two thirds (62%) do this at work.

Training

Training for digital skills remains patchy. Almost two thirds (63%) of workers have not received any digital skills training from their employer, including more than half (54%) of those in managerial roles and almost three quarters (71%) of manual workers.

Workers in London (56%) have the most advanced digital skills. In the West Midlands, less than a third (29%) of workers have essential digital literacy. Those working in the finance, insurance and property sectors have the highest level of digital skills.

Margot James, minister for digital and the creative industries, said: “Digital skills are now a near universal demand in job adverts. Today’s report finds that people using the internet for work has risen to more than half of the population. This is not a trend that is going to slow down. We want to create a workforce that is empowered by technology and that means equipping them with the confidence to use it.”

The Lloyds Bank Academy  was set up to help tackle the digital divide, providing free face-to-face and online digital skills training to everyone at locations across Manchester, Stockport, Oldham and Salford. It is now setting up an Academy in Bristol.