A third of e-gov services used for tax filing
Civil servants are still reluctant to conduct government transactions online, but of those that do, more than a third are using the internet for filling in forms such as tax returns.
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According to a study from industry vendor LogicaCMG, while nine out of ten public sector employees use online services for information gathering such as research, sourcing addresses and contact numbers, only 14% are actually prepared to make electronic transactions such as bill payments or claims for child support.
The survey of public sector employees showed that online services are most commonly used for sourcing contact details (67%), for conducting research on government departments (51%) and filling in forms such as tax returns (37%).
One in ten respondents felt that it was appropriate to make complaints on-line, but only seven per cent said they would be happy giving credit card details or making financial transactions on-line.
In contrast, 97% of public sector employees stated that they already use commercial sector online services for transactions such as banking or purchasing of goods. This highlights a higher level of trust with sensitive information towards private sector organisations.
‘The results show that the divide between the take-up of private and public sector on-line services is narrowing but the Government still has some way to go,’ said Sara Nicholls, sales and marketing director, Public Sector, LogicaCMG.
‘Increasing confidence in Government on-line services will be key in increasing take-up of core e-citizen services, both those that are transaction based, such as paying council tax, and non-transaction based service, such as filling in tax forms.’