Section Divider: Heading intro here.

Internet use in the UK: the evidence

June 2011

Kevin McLean

If all UK digitally excluded adults got online and made one digital contact each month, this would save the Government £900 million per year

PwC & Martha Lane Fox

www.raceonline.org/research

October 2009

The divide between the online and the offline is deepening

Percentage population use of the internet

Source: ONS 2010

8.7 million adults have never used the internet – 17.5% of the population

Internet Access Quarterly Update, ONS 2011 Q1

40.8 million adults used the internet every day – 82.2 per cent of the population

Internet Access Quarterly Update, ONS 2011 Q1

Who uses the internet?

› 95.3% + of people aged under 35-44 (and 99% of 16-24 year olds)

› 85% of men, compared with 80% of women› People in London & the South of England

(85.6%)

Internet Access Quarterly Update, ONS 2011 Q1

Internet Access Quarterly Update, ONS 2011 Q1

Who doesn’t use the internet?

› 5.1m women have never used the internet, compared with 3.6m men

› Only 17% of women aged 75+ have used the internet, compared with 33% of men aged 75+

› 4.2m disabled adults – almost half of all those who have never used the internet, or 1 in 3 of disabled people

› 29.3% of people in Northern Ireland and 22.7% of people in NE England

Internet Access Quarterly Update, ONS 2011 Q1

Who doesn’t use the internet? (contd)

Ofcom shows age and socioeconomic group are significant:

› 20% drop in internet use from national average among those in social group DE

› Close to half of non-users are aged 65 and over

› Close to half of non-users are in socioeconomic group DE

Source: Ofcom UK Adults’ Media Literacy Report, 2011

Four major factors to not using the internet are age, socio-economic group, disability, and gender

Why don’t people use the internet

Two key barriers are:› Lack of interest (64% of those who don’t

intend to get the internet at home gave this reason)

› Cost (23%)

Source: Ofcom UK Adults’ Media Literacy Report, 2011

Source: Ofcom UK Adults’ Media Literacy Report, 2011

Only 2% of UK adults use only an alternative device to a PC or laptop to go online

(Note: This is use of an alternative as their only means of going online)

Source: Ofcom UK Adults’ Media Literacy Report, 2011

Internet users are more likely to have interaction with government or their local council offline (71%) than online (65%).

Only 54% of UK adults have ever used an online government service (eg website, email, app etc)

Source: Ofcom UK Adults’ Media Literacy Report, 2011

82% of internet users say they have saved money in the last six months by using the internet

with 46% saying they’ve made significant savings

Source: Ofcom UK Adults’ Media Literacy Report, 2011

Around half of internet users have some concerns about providing personal information online

Source: Ofcom UK Adults’ Media Literacy Report, 2011

UK online centres4000 member centres, covering 84% of England’s most deprived areas. Locations include: • Community centres including in social housing • Schools, Surestart and Children’s centres• Shops• Old people’s homes and Sheltered Housing• Mosques, churches, religious buildings• Farms• Pubs• Homeless shelters and hostels• Libraries• AND …. Lots of going out to people where they are

*There were over 4000 partner centres by Mar 2011.

Relationship with Job centre Plus

Source: 2010-11 Centre satisfaction survey

So..... Must be right to move social security online.

But there is a significant challenge in moving people online, and then a further challenge in getting them comfortable enough to interact with Government online.

It won’t happen by accident, but the good news is there are great examples to build on.

Thank You

kmclean@ufi.com

Twitter: @kevinamclean

www.go-on.co.uk