Homeworking on the increase

Around 10 per cent of the UK workforce is now working from home and the numbers are rising all the time, a new survey shows.

Some 2.6 million UK households say they accommodate at least one person who regularly works from home for at least part of the time. Sixteen per cent say they use the internet for work-related tasks.

According to Point Topic's Broadband User Survey, the typical homeworker is male, between 25 and 44 years old, probably with a middle-management or knowledge-worker job (social classes B and C1) and part of a family with children.

Around 11 per cent are over 55 but, not surprisingly, few are over 65. Single people living alone and households in social groups C2, D and E rarely work from home.

Households in the South East, South West and East of England are more likely to work from home than those in any other region, with almost 40 per cent of home workers living in these three regions.

The North East, East Midlands, Wales and Northern Ireland fall well below the UK average when it comes to working from home.

"These figures show that being able to work from home over the internet is a middle-class privilege," said Tim Johnson, chief executive of Point Topic. "We need to find ways of giving less well-off people the skills and opportunities to do the same thing.

"The survey shows that this could be one of the best ways of raising 'digital inclusion', which is a big government objective today," he said. "It's one way the internet can increase people's earning power, promote economic growth and even help the environment."

2,122 respondents took part in the survey.