Business is booming on the home front

Lower costs, easier childcare and a sense of it being a more modern way of working were among the main reasons cited for working from home, according to a poll of homeworkers for Leeds-based supermarket chain Asda.

Sixteen per cent of those polled said their turnover was between £100-150,000 in the last 12 months and eight per cent said that their turnover had exceeded £200,000.

Nearly a quarter of home-based businesses employ more that one person and one in 20 employs more than five.

Four in five expect to work from home indefinitely.

Many of the home businesses polled were bullish about the prospects for growth this year, with 13.5 per cent expecting turnover growth of 20 per cent or more. Only five per cent of respondents expected no growth or a decline in sales this year.

More than a third expect growth of between five and 10 per cent this year.

Dan Carroll, Asda’s homeworking specialist, said: “Many households are taking a go-it-alone approach to business and are reaping the rewards.

“The low cost of starting up a business means that many households are pursuing the entrepreneurial dream.

Asda said sales of sheds and low-cost office technology have boomed in the last 12 months, with shed sales up 386 per cent, laptop sales up 86 per cent, printer sales up 45 per cent and stationery sales up 12 per cent.