One in five offline citizens want to get internet this year

13 per cent of adults don't care or don't need online access

One in five adults who are currently not online say they are likely to sign up for internet access in the next six months, according research for communications regulator Ofcom.

Some 70 per cent of the UK adult population is now online, but Ofcom wanted to know the reasons why the remaining 30 per cent are not, and to identify the barriers preventing them accessing the internet using broadband.

The survey conducted by research firm Ipsos MORI found those intending to get online in the next six months are more likely to be younger, use the internet already outside of the home, are working and have children.

The main reason for wanting to go online is for information (36 per cent), communicating with friends and family (26 per cent), keeping up with technology (25 per cent), and because friends and family recommended it (25 per cent).

Ofcom's research also examined two categories excluded from getting online - the self-excluded (13 per cent), and the financially-excluded (nine per cent).

Of those self-excluded, 42 per cent said their main reason for not going online was due to lack of interest or need. They tended to be older and retired, with 61 per cent never having used a computer.

Some respondents felt they were too old or believed the internet was for younger people. More than two fifths (43 per cent) of adults currently not online said that even if given a free PC and broadband connection, they would choose to remain offline.

Of people financially excluded, 30 per cent of adults said their main reason to forego online access, was that it was too expensive or that they were not knowledgeable or skilled enough to use it. Half of those polled in this group (51 per cent) gave the main reason as expense, while 27 per cent said the cost of the computer was the main financial impediment.

The research also looked at ideas to encourage people to go online, such as half-price computers and discounted monthly tariffs, which were more likely to appeal to employed, under 44-year-olds with children.

The Ipsos Mori research involved 1,841 face-to-face in-home interviews with respondents aged 16 and over across the UK without internet access at home from February to April 2009.

The results come in advance of publication of the Government’s Digital Britain report to be published before the MPs go on holiday later this summer, one area of which develops the idea of a universal service commitment for broadband access in the UK at up to 2Mbit/s.

“This is very welcome research that looks in-depth at the reasons why people don’t yet have broadband at home," said Anna Bradley, chairwoman of advisory group the Communications Consumer Panel.

"This paves the way for action to help people get online that is better tailored to their needs, including financial support, training to boost skills and confidence, more easy-to-use equipment and better online public services; new interactive public services, could play a particularly important role in bringing the ‘self-excluded’ round to the value of being online."