Sarah Newton MP: The importance of supporting homeworking

Sarah Newton is the Member of Parliament for Truro and Falmouth.

With the average family now spending more than a quarter of their income on childcare, it is vital that we find ways to encourage new ways of working that are flexible and allow parents to spend time looking after their children while still being able to earn a living.

One solution is to encourage “homeworking” and enable people to become self-employed through operating their business from home.  Last week, my colleague Priti Patel and I had the pleasure of sponsoring an event for an organisation that uses such a model, Arise Virtual Solutions.

Arise operates virtual contact centres for some of the world’s largest companies by enabling people to become customer service agents and do everything they would in a conventional call centre but from the comfort of their own home.  This allows them the chance to earn an income while at the same time benefiting from the flexibility of working their own hours.

So how does it work?