Three in 10 UK adults – around 14 million people – don’t know how to wipe their personal info from an old device, according to figures from the Information Commission’s Office (ICO).

A survey of more than 2,000 people carried out earlier this month found that 75 per cent have held onto at least one old device, with a fifth having done this because of concerns about their personal information.

While over two-thirds - 71 per cent - of UK adults agree that erasing personal information is important, just under a quarter think it is "too difficult".

The ICO figures reveal that as many as 84 per cent of UK adults would make sure they have erased all their personal information from a device before they dispose of it, with young people the least concerned about their personal information.

14 per cent of people aged 18-34 admitted they would not wipe their device at all, compared to only four per cent of people over the age of 55.

One in five young people do not think it is important to wipe their personal information, while almost a quarter do not have concerns about what might happen to their data.

“With the New Year being an ideal time to declutter, there’s no reason to leave your old devices to gather dust in a drawer,” said Suzzane Gordon, director of public advice and data protection complaints, ICO. “Erasing your personal information from an old device doesn’t need to be difficult, and it means that your data can’t be accessed by anybody else, either by mistake or for malicious purposes such as fraud.

“For example, a factory reset via the settings can adequately erase your personal information from most mobile phones.”

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