Scotland's Economy

Report opens door to home-based biz

September 21, 2016 by The Scottish Government No Comments | Category Business, Economy, Employment

Running a business from home is an increasingly popular option offering freedom and flexibility to work the hours you choose in an environment that you create yourself. Generally the costs will be lower and you can avoid commuting.

Advances in technology mean that many kinds of business can be run from a home base. The benefits for home-based business of embracing new digital technologies are abundant and include the ability to sell products and services to a global market for relatively low cost.

In Scotland home-based businesses play a valuable role in the economy and this way of working is increasingly becoming the norm.

Today the Scottish Government published a series of reports looking at the characteristics of small and medium-sized businesses in Scotland.

Highlights from the report on Home-based Businesses show:

• 70% of all enterprises in Scotland are sole traders and the survey shows that 55% of these were home-based
• Almost half (46%) of the SME population were home-based – and 24% of firms with employees operate from their home.
• 95% of home-based businesses were family owned.
• 65% of home businesses were more than 10 years old.
• 94% of home-based businesses grew or maintained employment in the past 12 months, and 97% expected to grow or maintain employment over the next 12 months.
• 69% of home-based businesses grew or maintained turnover in the past 12 months, and 77% expected to grow or maintain turnover rover the next 12 months.
• Amongst the SME population a similar proportion of home-based as businesses with separate premises exported. 48% of home-based businesses indicated an intention to grow overall sales over the next three years.
  There is a broad range of types of business operated from a home-base ranging from 5% manufacturing through to 18% of business services to 21% construction.

The full reports are available to download on the Scottish Government’s website.

The Scottish Government is committed to helping all types of businesses to grow and is working to ensure Scotland is the best place to do business. That support is available to all types of businesses whether based at home or in separate premises. It includes publicly funded business support, support for exporting, reducing the burden of taxation and regulation, improving access to finance, and strengthening innovation and entrepreneurship. Information and guidance about running a business from home and support available across the public sector is now available online.

Tags: economy, employment

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