Do You Trust Government? - Read The ONS Report - Trust In Government, Uk: 2023
4th March 2024
Estimates of trust in government and institutions, satisfaction with public services, and political attitudes, collected as part of an international research project. These are official statistics in development.
People in the UK trust non-political institutions, such as the judicial system, police and civil service, more than the national and devolved governments, Parliament and political parties.
Around half of people in the UK had accessed an administrative service, for example, applying for a passport or benefits in the last year; satisfaction with administrative services was generally higher than with the health and education systems in the UK.
The integrity of politicians and officials was an important driver of trust, with most people stating that officials abiding by the same rules as everybody else was a factor in how much they trust the national government.
A majority of people in the UK had participated in a political activity in the past year, most commonly voting in a recent local election, and most agreed that the general public should be able to vote directly on issues of national importance in a referendum.
Just under half of people said they had little to no confidence in their own ability to participate in politics, and two-thirds had little or no confidence that they have a say on the decisions made by the government.
Two-thirds of people said that the cost of living was one of the three most important issues facing the UK, and three-quarters were concerned about their own household's finances and overall economic well-being.
This release contains data from the Trust in Government Survey. The survey was undertaken by the Office for National Statistics on behalf of the Cabinet Office and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The survey was run in 30 countries and the full international dataset will be published by the OECD in summer 2024.
Read the full report HERE
