Action is catching on: two out of three municipalities help residents in digitization

The goal is to guide 250,000 Flemish people this year and, above all, to protect them from digital exclusion, says Flemish Minister of Work and Social Economy Jo Brouns (CD&V). This does not only concern seniors, because one in seven users is between 18-35 years old. A quarter of 16 to 24-year-olds have difficulty keeping track of their digital administration.

Digital divide

“The digital divide manifests itself in various ways, such as people who do not have a laptop or internet connection or who do not have the skills to work with online applications. Posting a photo on Instagram is a different story than registering an account number for the job bonus, applying for a job or filing a tax return on Tax-on-Web.” said Minister Browns. A digibank now makes all those digital actions much easier.

Corona pandemic

The corona crisis ensured that we digitized in no time. That created a huge digital gap, and to close that gap, the first six digibabnken opened in 2022. Today there are already 54 digibanks in Flanders and Brussels. Due to the great success, Jo Brouns and the Flemish government decided to extend support for digibanks by two years, until 2026.

The digibank is consulted most for ‘Itsme’, Job Bonus & My Citizen Profile and Tax-on-web. The digibank is also often used for help with online privacy, your smartphone or laptop or mobile apps.