Official Rise In Home Working Figures

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Figures released from the Office Of National Statistics show that in England and Wales the proportion of people working mainly at or from home increased from 9.2% in 2001 to 10.7% in 2011, further underlining the growing tend towards homeworking in the UK.

An eclectic home business community, iHubbub, agrees that these new figures are showing home important flexible working is to British workers. iHubbub has seen an increase in people using their talents and passions to come up with fascinating business ventures.

London saw the sixth largest increase in homeworking (4.5%), with the South East and the South West being the regions with the largest increases at 2.2% and 2.1% respectively.
Nine urban local authorities saw a reduction in the amount of people working at home, with the London Borough of Newham having the largest proportional decrease at 1.1%. However, in all 348 local authorities of England and Wales, the actual number of home workers increased between 2001 and 2011.
There are many reasons why people choose to work at home with higher productivity and the ability to work uninterrupted especially on project work cited as the main two reasons. However better work/life balance and a “family friendly” fit with domestic arrangements were also cited as reasons why people choose to also make their home their office.

According to the report it seems that some home workers have taken full advantage of the technological advancements of the last decade and removed the need to commute to a central office. This is more beneficial to workers living in rural locations as commuting distances would be longer for their urban office counterparts.
Paula Wynne, bestselling author and co-founder of iHubbub said: “Homeworkers join iHubbub to interact with homeworking freelancers and business owners to exchange ideas and hints and tips about working from home. It’s fantastic to see such a wide and diverse mix of home businesses that contribute to the economy for much needed growth in the UK.”