London was followed by the South-East where 41 per cent worked from home last year
(Picture: PA)More people worked from home during the pandemic in London than in any other region of the country, official figures reveal today.
A survey by the Office for National Statistics found that 43 per cent of Londoners performed their job from home at some point in 2020, up from 31 per cent in 2019. It also found that people working from home tend to put in longer hours.
London was followed by the South-East where 41 per cent worked from home last year. However, other regions saw far lower levels of working from home with Northern Ireland only on 26 per cent. The UK average was 38 per cent.
Some of the highest rates of home working were seen in central London with Lambeth on 53.8 per cent, and Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham on 48.6 per cent.
Last year, those even just occasionally working from home spent an average of 32.3 hours per week working compared with 27.7 hours for those who never worked from home. Average working hours were down generally due to millions of employees being furloughed.
Among full-time workers, those who mainly worked from home completed an average of 35.9 hours a week compared with 32.7 who never worked from home. However, workers operating from their kitchen or study have a more flexible day with later starts and more breaks on average.
This trend became more marked as the pandemic progressed. In April, workers tended to stick closer to office hours but by September they were shifting to later starts and later finishes.
In April, the average start time was 10.15am — compared with 9.37am for people working away from home — but this had drifted to 10.45am by September. However, later in the day home workers were far more likely to be still at their screens after 6pm than those who did their jobs away from home.
