ONS finds 77% of UK homes have internet access

More than three-quarters of UK homes have some form of internet access, new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have revealed.

According to the latest Internet Access - Households and Individuals report, 77 per cent of residential properties are now connected to the web, up four percentage points on the total recorded last year and 16 percentage points on the 2007 figure.

Some 93 per cent of all active lines are broadband connections, while two per cent are still relying on dial-up.

The ONS discovered that the biggest factor in consumers not having home internet access is the belief that they do no need it, with 50 per cent of unconnected respondents citing this reason, compared with 39 per cent in 2010.

More than a fifth claimed they lack the skills to get online, with this figure remaining level over the past year, while 19 per cent claimed equipment costs are too high - up one percentage point on the 2010 figure.

Government figures have previously revealed 8.7 million adults in the UK have never used the internet, of whom 39 per cent are over 65 and 38 per cent are unemployed.