• It's not always easy to separate work and family life.
• You need to be self disciplined, establish a work pattern that suits you and stick to it.
• You may well find you miss having colleagues, for social as well as work reasons.
• If you are working freelance or are self employed, networking and making contacts is essential, but not always easy if you live far away from a commercial centre.
• Negotiating fees for your product or service can be difficult if you don’t have going rates to compare with.
• If you are an employee, it can be harder to maintain a long distance relationship with your line manager.
• You may also miss being able to compare your terms and conditions with colleagues and risk being exploited.
• You may miss out on promotion opportunities.
• Depending on what you do, work and income may not be guaranteed.

If you want to work from home, and you need to look for a job, you must: 

• beware of scams and "get-rich-quick" schemes which are often based on the principle of pyramid selling or chain letters
• never pay an organisation in advance to get work you can do at home.

 Issues to consider when you are considering homeworking

You should check the following:

• who will provide furniture, equipment and communication systems
• health and safety arrangements
• security of information
• expenses and allowances: home heating and lighting, travel expenses
• tax and national insurance contributions
• personal and professional support, to make sure you do not become too isolated. 

Ways of homeworking

These are varied, but include:

• You work at home to produce a product or provide a service.
• Your employer supplies the materials and markets the product.
• The most common work is simple assembling, envelope stuffing or packing.
• Traditionally this work is relatively poorly paid, involving piece work.

Teleworking 

This is a growing area, with over 2 million people in the UK using information technology to help them work away from the traditional office environment. These workers usually have a fixed term or permanent contract with an employer.

Your employer provides the technology, the furniture and equipment to enable you to:

·         work at home full time or part time

·         divide your time between the office and your home

·         use your home as the administrative base for your job

·         access company databases and applications

·         communicate with your base.

Self-employment

Many entrepreneurs start off their businesses on a small scale by operating from home.

• You can save on renting premises.
• You are not committed to a tenancy agreement should your business fail to grow.

Freelance

You work independently, usually on a self employed basis, selling your services to individual clients or customers.

·         You rely for your income on establishing regular business from a circle of clients or customers.

·         Your income will fluctuate and is usually heavily controlled by the demands of the client.

Some jobs cut across the categories, for example sales work. Although you are part of a large organisation you tend to work as if you were self-employed.

You often:

·         depend on commission for the bulk of your income

·         have to find and maintain your own customer base

·         pay for your own training.

What does it take?

To be a successful home worker you need to be:

·         well organised and  self-motivated

·         resourceful and flexible

·         assertive

·        willing to take calculated risks.

You should preferably have one room, equipped with power points and telephone point to use as your office or work space.

The law and homeworking

The 2003 Employment Act supports homeworkers in the following ways:

• parents of children under 6 or of disabled children under 18 have the right to request flexible working including teleworking 
• your employer must give reasonable grounds for refusal
• you can appeal against a refusal
• homeworkers can claim tax allowances for domestic expenses such as heating and light bills.

You can get specific guidance on teleworking from the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR). It covers issues such as:       

·         health and safety, particularly in regard to electrical equipment, workstations and risk assessments

·         expenses, allowances, taxation and insurance

·         recruitment, training and career progression

·         personal support for employees

·         security of information.

A booklet 'Homeworking: Guidance for Employees on Health and Safety' can be downloaded from the website: http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg226.pdf  

The National Minimum Wage

You are entitled to be paid the National Minimum Wage (from October 2008, £5.73 an hour for those aged over 22).

Data protection

If you keep computerised information about any living person you are usually required to register under the Data Protection Act.

Your property

• Check your title deeds and ask your landlord or landlady or mortgage company if there any restrictions on working from home.
• If you are thinking of altering your home, check with the local authority planning and building regulations departments.
• Contact your home insurance company to see if working from home will affect your premium.
• Check whether you need to pay business rates rather than Council Tax on the part of your home used for work.
• If you employ staff or bring members of the public into your home, check with the Fire and Rescue Service and with the Department of Health and Safety.

Insurance

• Insure all your work equipment fully.
• If you employ staff you will have to take out employer’s liability insurance.
• If you are self-employed you will be responsible for your own National Insurance contributions and for calculating your own income tax and VAT.
• You may be entitled to earnings-related sickness benefit if you are ill.

Useful contacts

For information on all aspects of working from home, including suggestions for getting started and other advice and support, the following sources can help.