Over 52 per cent of British small businesses are now being operated from home according to a new study by Direct Line for Business.

Making up 8 per cent of the UK’s total workforce, these new figures show a record number of businesses being started from home.

The figures have been credited to the current economic climate, as people are looking for a more flexible way of working to ensure they have a better ‘work-life’ balance.

South East and South West areas of the UK have been shown to be key areas for home businesses, with hotspots being Herefordshire and the London borough of Wandsworth.

A gender gap has also been shown with the data, as the amount of male entrepreneurs (1.7million) hugely outweighing the amount of female (818,000).

George Cotter, 08 Direct’s Head of Marketing, said: “We’ve noticed a real trend emerging of people starting their own business and choosing to do so from the comfort of their own home.

“With technology, it’s so easy these days to promote a professional image to the public, as you can adopt departmental email address, non-geographic business numbers and many other techniques, so working from home needs not restrict the growth of a business.”