Home Working

Contents

1. A guide to happy home working
2. The right homeworking insurance
3. Home truths

A guide to happy home working

If the office is driving you to distraction or your commute's costing you a packet, working from home might seem like an easy alternative. But it’s not all sitting with a cuppa in front of daytime TV. Home working can indeed bring flexibility and convenience, but it has its own challenges when it comes to insurance, the law and your work/life balance.

Millions of us do choose to work from home, either enjoying flexible working as part of a full-time job or jumping into the unknown and starting our own business. Indeed, over 2 million businesses (1) operate from home in the UK, but shockingly perhaps, around 60% of them do so without appropriate insurance (2).

"Home contents policies do not usually cover working from home," warns Malcolm Tarling, spokesperson for the
Association of British Insurers. And getting your insurer to cover home working could depend on your job, he explains. "Depending on exactly what you do, some insurers may be willing to extend your policy to cover business risks – this may well require an additional premium."

[Sources:
1 Enterprise Nation - www.enterprisenation.co.uk
2 Finaccord - Small Business Metrics: Insurance For Small Business In The UK (2005)]