Civil servants offered homeworking option

Employees of the government's Insolvency Service can choose flexible working arrangements, including home-working, following pressure from civil service union Prospect. A pilot scheme, launched two years ago, proved popular with staff and has now been extended.

Staff with a year's service can apply to work at home, stating which days they propose to work at home and why. The employer then provides a laptop with a full-size keyboard and mouse, a telephone line with the office number re-routed to home and money for office furniture.

Prospect branch secretary Keith Ellis said that although the union had been pushing for the scheme, it was optional for staff. He said: "I wouldn't want to work at home myself, but as a union we are pushing for the scheme to be extended all over the service, as long as it's based on choice."

Mothers more likely to work from home

Recent figures on the number of teleworkers show that while women with young children are taking advantage of opportunities to work from home, fathers may be doing the opposite. An analysis by the Institute for Employment Studies of the Labour Force Survey shows that 23% of women teleworkers have children under five, compared to only 12% of all women in employment. However, while15% of all men in the workforce have children under five, this is only the case for 10% of male teleworkers.