The British public sector is still struggling to comply with the Freedom of Information Act and the "critical challenges" of trying to meet the government's January 2005 compliance deadline, recent research has claimed.

According to a study by analyst firm IDL Strategic Services, commissioned by Documentum, the principle barriers facing the public sector are the cost of implementation, fear of implementing change and confusion about how to achieve compliance.

The poll of staff from central government departments and local authorities found that 82 per cent of respondents cited process change as a major impediment to achieving their objectives, while 67 per cent highlighted the cost of implementation as a significant barrier.

Almost of half of the survey's respondents stated that they were confused about policy or regulations regarding the sharing of information.

"The Freedom of Information Act has the potential to become a huge headache and the public sector knows this", said David Gingell, EMEA vice president of marketing for Documentum.

"However, while they recognise the problem, they still have to overcome budgetary restrictions, a lack of internal skills and resistance to change in order to come close to meeting the deadline."

The study also claimed that only 15 per cent of public sector respondents have any sort of compliance in place, with most aiming to achieve compliance by the end of this year (29 per cent) or in 2004 (18 per cent).