Thinktank says UK will have problems providing broadband for all

Broadband thinktank Point Topic found that nearly 30 per cent of all households in Northern Ireland and more than a quarter of homes in Wales are currently unable to achieve internet speeds of two megabits per second, which the Government promised would be available to all homes by 2012.

"Towns such as Basingstoke and Milton Keynes which people might expect to be well connected have notspots," said Tim Johnson, chief analyst with Point Topic. "The scale of the task is massive and in order to achieve it there needs to be co-operation between government, the regulator and operators such as BT," he said.

Point Topic has produced a regional breakdown of areas that currently do not have much net speed. The thinktank has produced a map showing which areas of the country lack the infrastructure needed to deliver the high-speed broadband access outlined in the recent Digital Britain report.

The report’s author, Lord Carter, pledged that every UK home would have access to broadband by 2012, and set a minimum speed level of two megabits per second, a speed which the Government has determined would be sufficient for the delivery of online services.

But critics have warned that unless the internet infrastructure throughout the UK is sufficiently improved over the next few years, the Government’s target will remain unobtainable.

"We think that fibre is the right way to go. That will provide the UK with a future-proofed network," said Mr Johnson. BT has pledged to provide fibre to around 40% of the UK but with the caveat that "market conditions must be right".

The report, the full version of which is due in May, laid out the government's commitment to broadband and suggested that some of the gaps in coverage could be filled with mobile broadband.

But mobile broadband has met with criticism too, as it can be expensive, slow and service can be affected by the volume of users. “There are issues with the network and services drop off the more people who use it,” said Alex Salter, from broadband measurement site SamKnows.

Internet usage has become almost universal across middle Britain and over 15 million households have broadband. The average broadband Brit now spends more than 16 hours a week online and downloads can be 200 times as fast as in the last millennium. Many now rely on it as a tool to work fulltime from home or anywhere.

“Now we’ve reached the point where losing your connection or just being in ‘slowband land’ can be incredibly frustrating. Fast internet access has changed the way we work, listen to music, watch TV, stay in touch with our friends, shop and plan our lives, “Johnson points out. “It has touched every corner of our lives not just everyone’s life.”

“If you live in a densely populated area in the UK, chances are you’ll have access to over 2Mbps of bandwidth. About 84% of households are in the right place to get reasonable speeds according to our analysis,” says Johnson.

Searches in the UK for home-working positions on the increase

As more people have internet access and understand more about the world wide web, and as technology progresses and continues to develop, so working from home or anywhere, being a mobile worker has moved away from the niches of media and IT into the public domain.

Fuelling this is the global recession which has led to the highest level of unemployment in 17 years in the UK and inflation hits an all-time high, a figure which is likely to rise as more job cuts are made. The result is more people working from home, or searching for home-based jobs.

According to UK job search website TipTopJobs.com, figures released in February show that people applying for home-working positions on job boards have almost doubled in the past month.

Applications for home-based roles during the month of September leapt to 1,673 from 1,176 in August – an increase of 42 per cent.

As 26 per cent of individuals cited family responsibilities as the main reason for seeking home-based employment, it is evident that worries over child care costs and lack of work-life balance are the key factors behind the increasing volume of home-working job board applications.

Home-working job searches may indicate lack of confidence in economy. Corinne Dauncey, Careers Expert from TipTopJob.com, said: “We forecast an increase in home-based applications as it’s becoming more acceptable to work from home. However such a sharp rise is not in line with our predications. We believe it’s another worrying sign that consumer confidence is low and that candidates are worried about the current economic turmoil.

“Economists believe headline rates of inflation are now set to fall back, with oil prices having recently dropped, so it will be interesting to see what happens to these applications, whether they continue to rise or fall in line with inflation.”

In the meantime, for those looking to work from home, there are a wide range of vacancies available through online job boards and job search engines. As long as workers have access to the internet and a telephone, it has become an ideal solution for those struggling with a long commute, redundancy or childcare issues.

Visit At Work Anywhere in March to see our beta version. We are all about connecting people and creating opportunities.

Home workers in the UK encouraged to claim tax

Broadband, the internet and mobile devices such as BlackBerrys and personal digital assistants have made working from home much easier. But the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) is urging homeworkers to claim all the tax reliefs available to them from the taxman.
If you run a business from home, there are tax reliefs available. Chas Roy–Chowdhury, head of taxation at ACCA, says:

“If you have to work from home, HM Revenue & Customs’ has a website that
explains the benefits which are payable for home workers — tax relief is
available for the extra household expenses that have to be paid if working from
home. Typically these extra expenses include:

• the extra cost of gas and electricity to heat and light your work area




• business telephone calls




• the use of a car.

A percentage of tax relief is available based upon how much business use is
incurred. In addition a percentage of the 20% capital allowances may also
available on your vehicle based upon the percentage of business use.

You may also be entitled to a deduction for items used for your business —
either a capital allowance deduction for computer equipment or a straight
forward deduction for some items such as stationary and paper."

Also, there are other tax reliefs available for those who are an employee of a company, but have to work from home:
A flat rate deduction of £3.00 per week (from 2008–09) for each week that worked at home. This doesn't include the cost of business telephone calls. A larger amount if extra expenses are higher than £3.00 – but the taxman will have to see how these figures have been calculated. Chas Roy–Chowdhury, head of taxation at ACCA, says:

“HMRC makes it very clear that you will not be able to receive tax relief on
domestic expenses that are being paid, such as mortgage payments. And no reliefs
are available when it comes to using services such as phones and internet which
are also used for personal usage. There has to be a clear demarcation.

It is important to claim all tax reliefs if you are running a business from
your home, or if you are working as an employee at home; however small the
relief payments may be, it is still important to claim them. That old adage of
looking after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves is certainly
relevant in this case.”