Social Enterprise shares results of UK trust survey

The Social Enterprise Mark Company has commissioned a survey to explore the issue of trust among UK adults.

The survey explores attitudes within an individual’s own social circle as well as looking at other aspects of our every day lives like government and business.

Results show that two in three adults of the 2,000 surveyed said they had no faith in the government.

And the typical adult can claim to have around 15 friends through work, university and childhood – but can only really trust four of them.

More than half (54%) of adults surveyed have issues with trust. Adults feel most at risk of being betrayed by a friend, followed by someone they work closely with.

The poll revealed adults put most faith in their partner with six in ten voting them as most trust-worthy, followed by their best friend and then a parent.

The most common reason a person has felt betrayed was by having their secrets blabbed – as almost four in ten said they’d had this done by someone they considered a friend.

And the lack of trust even extended outside the social circle, as two in three adults stated they have no faith in the government.

Over half said they find banks to be dishonest, whilst people and brands linked to tax avoidance were also deemed undeserving of trust.

Companies trading with consumers are up against a very tough audience as results show an unease with what a company might say and what a consumer might believe.

Nearly two thirds of people agree with the statement that a lot of companies pretend to be ethical just to sell more products.

Lucy Findlay added:  “This survey shows trust is in short supply. And if people find it hard to trust each other, how much harder is it to trust businesses? And with good reason, as we’ve seen from the many recent examples of financial misconduct and fat cat salaries.”

“Social enterprises are all about accountability, transparency and fairly distributed profits. In other words they’re ethical businesses, committed to caring for both people and planet. “

“The Social Enterprise Mark is your guarantee of this.”

Find out more about the Social Enterprise Mark by visiting www.socialenterprisemark.org.uk/who-do-you-trust/

Read the Managing Director’s blog about trust, see www.socialenterprisemark.org.uk/category/blog/mds-blog/