Millions of British adults are lacking in basic online skills, costing small businesses billions of pounds per year, according to a new study.

Conducted by Booz and Company on behalf of Go ON UK, the research revealed 16 million people in the UK do not have the necessary skills to use search engines, complete online applications, access information on the web or send and receive emails.

If all small and medium-sized enterprises marketed and sold their goods and services online, their combined turnover would rise by £18.8 billion, the study claimed.

Martha Lane Fox, chair of Go ON UK and the country's digital champion, said: "We need to make the country fit for purpose through the next decade and ensure everyone and every organisation has basic digital literacy."

The report comes after the latest Internet Access Quarterly Update from the Office for National Statistics revealed 7.82 million adults - or 16 per cent of the population - had never used the web, as of this June.

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