Home is where the business is '“ and it's worth £94bn

BRITAIN's home businesses are providing a £94bn boost to the economy, according to research from the Centre for Economic and Business Research and YouGov.
Simon Burckhardt, Vonage Managing Director. London.Simon Burckhardt, Vonage Managing Director. London.
Simon Burckhardt, Vonage Managing Director. London.

The report – The Heart of Home Business Britain – found that there are an estimated 197,700 home businesses in Yorkshire, which means they account for 52 per cent of all the county’s businesses.

The research found that the majority of home business owners (52 per cent) are 55 or over, while over three quarters (79.1 per cent) are at least 45. Just 8.3 per cent are under 35. The estimated value derived from home businesses in Yorkshire is £6.8bn.

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The study also found that most home businesses are established out of choice, and not as a reaction to unemployment.

Just 24 per cent of respondents thought they would be jobless without their home business, while 39 per cent said they would be in employment and 28 per cent said they would run their business elsewhere.

The report also includes the Home Business 100, which is a list of some of the leading home businesses in the country.

There are three Yorkshire-based companies on the list: Little Fingers Baby Food, based in Huddersfield, Taxfreegains.co.uk, from Harrogate and Ushiwear, a fashion business based in Mirfield, West Yorkshire.

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Simon Burckhardt, the managing director of Vonage UK, which provides cloud communications services for businesses and commissioned the research, said: “This research shows the critical importance of home businesses to the Yorkshire economy.

“It is entrepreneurs such as Jilly Kapusi, the founder of clothing retailer Ushiwear, who are driving the UK’s record business population, and contributing hugely to the local and national economy.

Mr Burckhardt added: “This study suggests that the UK business workforce is changing and business communications are changing in order to deliver the technology needed to address this shift.”

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