Four million people in Britain are now working from home

'Modern home-working is good for the economy as it increases productivity,' says TUC general secretary

More than half of home-workers are managers and professionals, while those least likely to work from home are in administrative and secretarial occupations (Deskmag/Wikimedia Commons)

As many as four million people in Britain now work from home, an increase of 62,000 over the past year.

Faster and more widely available internet access is a contributing factor, says the TUC, following its analysis of data from the Office of National Statistics, with the number of regular home-workers rising by more than half a million since 2007.

More than half of home-workers are managers and professionals, while those least likely to work from home are in administrative and secretarial occupations.

The biggest boom in home-working has taken place in the South-east where the figure has risen by 132,000 in the past seven years. But the South-west still has the greatest number of people working from home, with as many as one in six regularly doing so.

Frances O’Grady, TUC general secretary, said: “Modern home-working is good for the economy as it increases productivity.”