HUNDREDS of thousands of older people are being deprived of rightful financial support due to digital exclusion, a charity has found.

The study from Age UK, published on Friday, found that people from a lower-income background were disproportionately at risk of losing out due to digital barriers.

Around 2.3 million over-65s do not use the internet at all, with 48 per cent of these being over 75, it reported.