As new data revealed the effect of Covid on workplace attendance, more than one-third (37%) of Londoners worked from home this year.
The Office for National Statistics reports that between January and March, the capital had the greatest proportion of homemakers.
During that time, 1.9 million people in London worked from home, compared to 1.6 million in the South East (36.9%) and 903,000 in the East of England (31.1 per cent).
Northern Ireland (16.4%, 137,000 residents), the North East (22.4%, 262,000), and Yorkshire and The Humber had the lowest percentage of homemakers (26.2 per cent, 668,000).
The ONS statistics also showed the significant decline in commuters across the UK as a result of the Covid pandemic.
January to March of this year saw 629,000 fewer persons (down 26.1%) commute into another region for employment than October to December of last year.
London saw the biggest drop, with 367,00 fewer commuters visiting the city (a 36.8 per cent fall).
The East Midlands had a decline of 21.2% (down 32,000) while the South East saw a decline of 29.1% (down 117,000).
As the Prime Minister abolished the “Plan B” provisions put in place in response to the Omicron wave of infections, Boris Johnson rescinded the advice for individuals to work from home on January 19.
Scotland also removed the advice to work from home at this time; however, Northern Ireland held out until June before doing so. Wales has also implemented a strategy to actively promote remote working.
The ONS determined there were 1.4 million fewer persons employed in London workplaces following Covid (down 30.1 per cent), demonstrating the full impact of the increase in home-working and loss of commuters between 2019 and 2022.
When the number of commuters lost was coupled with the decrease in non-homeworkers, there were 775,000 fewer individuals employed in the South East (down 775,000) and 505,000 less in Scotland (down 21.2%).
Overall, the number of people who worked from home in the UK climbed by 5.2 million from January to March of this year to October to December of this year (108.8 per cent).
The number of homemakers in the UK increased from 4.7 million (14.5%) at the end of 2019 to 9.9 million (30.6%) at the start of this year.
In every UK area, the number of people who do their homework climbed by more than 50%.
Homeworkers increased by a greater proportion in Scotland (203.5%, or 544,000 more persons), while those in Northern Ireland increased by a smaller amount (56.4 per cent, up 49,000).
The surge in flexible working across the UK was also indicated by the ONS statistics.
Between January and March, 2.8 million persons who did not work primarily from home—14.3% of the population—said they did so at least once a week.
London had the greatest percentage of this number (24.3%, or 627,000 persons), while the East Midlands had the lowest percentage (9.1 per cent, 126,000 people).