LACK of trust is a major barrier to the wider adoption of online government services, reveals a poll.

Online government services are proving popular but more must be done to reassure the public about data security, it found.

The Making Digital Default survey of 5,180 UK adults was carried out by Deloitte and polling company YouGov.

Some 88% of people were open to accessing services online and 78% of people have used an existing service, it found

Just 3% said they prefer to access services exclusively offline.

But 17% of respondents said they avoided online service due to privacy fears – and the government's ability to deliver.

Joel Bellman, public sector director at Deloitte, said: "People want government services that are safe, simple, affordable and able to save them time and money.

He added: "This research shows that there is clear appetite to engage with government online, but a lot of work to do to ensure digital services are accessible and trusted.

"To truly realise its 'digital by default' goal, government needs to build trust and offer online services, with support available, that are so well-designed that people opt to use them instead of offline alternatives.

"Online services should be intuitive and should bring government closer to people so they make a deliberate choice to adopt them."

Some 59% of people said they would like to pay fines, bills and taxes online. But just 39% of people currently do, suggesting there was demand for more online options.

The survey found that 46% said they wanted to book appointments online, with only 20% currently doing so.

Some 42% of respondents said clearer instructions would encourage them to use more digital services and 18% wanted telephone helplines available to support them.

But the survey uncovered reservations about the security of online services.

Not wanting to share data online was the reason given by 17% of people who said they avoided using online services.

That percentage was higher among those who said they prefered exclusively offline access, with 42% stating data sharing as the main barrier.

Just 18% of respondents said that sharing their data across government would lead to improved government services and 20% said that taxpayers' money would be saved.

However, 33% said they believe their data would be misused.

Some 75% of people say strong data security is the most important feature of online government services, ahead of being simple to use (70%), saving time (68%) and saving money (66%).

Just 9% of respondents said they have confidence in government's ability to deliver IT projects on time and 6% believe they can be delivered on budget.

Mr Bellman said: "There are significant levels of concerns over government's ability to keep citizen data safe and deliver IT projects successfully.

"More must be done to assure the public that government can keep data secure, will not misuse it and is capable of digital delivery.

"As it stands, trust in government is a major barrier to the adoption of online services."

The full report can be found here.