The number of people spending more than one hour per day commuting to work fell by 206,000 in 2007, according to TUC analysis of official statistics released today (Tuesday).

The TUC analysis – produced to coincide with Workwise UK’s Commute Smart week this week – of the Labour Force Survey (LFS) shows a fall of one per cent from 2006, from 21.9 per cent (5,517,000 people) to 20.9 per cent (5,311,000 people) of employees undertaking commuter journeys of longer than one hour.

The drop in commute times follows a campaign to promote smarter working by the WorkWise UK coalition, which includes the TUC, the CBI, Transport for London and other leading organisations. Smarter working includes working from home, flexi-time schemes and other ways of escaping from the ‘9 to 5’ rat race while still doing your job.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: “In the UK we work some of the longest hours in Europe, and on top of this we still have to commute an average of 54 minutes per day. This adds up to a very stressful working week for millions of workers across the UK.

“The decline in long commutes, which predates the current difficulties with the economy, shows that smarter working has finally begun to bite. The fall in commute times is heartening, because it reverses a ten-year trend towards more long-hours work journeys, which culminated in a record number of people spending more than an hour commuting each day.

“However, the statistics also show that one in five employees still spend more than an hour per day on their journey. It’s vital that concerns about the economy do not deter employers from introducing flexible working, which could ease the strain for hard-pressed workers while delivering real benefits for business.

“And the Government must do its bit by keeping their promise to extend the right to request flexible working to the parents of children aged up to 16. I hope all employers who receive flexibility requests consider them seriously and do all them can to make flexible working a reality.”

Chief executive of Work Wise UK Phil Flaxton said: “It is clear that our messages on the benefits of smarter working practices are getting through and are producing results as more and more people work and commute smarter.

“The current economic turmoil presents employers with the opportunity to consider introducing new working practices and travel patterns as they will lead to cost savings for both their businesses and staff alike. Far from this being a time for the Government to postpone the extension of family-friendly provisions, it should be bringing them forward to help cash-strapped employers and despondent employees.

“The average cost of a desk space in the UK is £7k per annum – therefore, if an organisation has 250 employees and through smarter working the number of desks were reduced by 10 per cent, this would represent a saving of up to £175,000 per annum.”

Commuters working in London are still most likely to commute for more than one hour each day, but the percentage of long hours commuters in the capital fell sharply last year, with 7.2 per cent fewer (101,000 employees) undertaking long commutes.

London, the South East and Eastern regions have the highest percentage of long journey commuters, whilst the North East and Wales have the lowest. In addition to London, the North East and Northern Ireland also saw sharp falls in long journeys last year, whilst the Midlands was the smallest.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Commuters travelling more than one hour per day by region 2006 and 2007

	Number of long hours commuters (000s) 2006	Number of long hours commuters (000s) 2007	Increase in the number of long hours commuters (000s) 2006-2007	% long hours commutes 2006	% long hours commutes 2007	Change in % of long commutes 2006- 2007
North East	161	139	-22	16.9	13.3	-3.6
North West	519	484	-35	19.7	17.1	-2.6
Yorkshire & H/side	395	389	-6*	20.1	18.0	-2.1
East Midlands	292	313	+21	17.0	16.6	-0.4
West Midlands	391	409	+21	19.5	18.5	-1.0
Eastern	538	532	+6*	24.9	22.0	-2.9
London	1,344	1,243	-101	47.7	40.5	-7.2
South East	816	802	-14	24.6	22.3	-2.3
South West	337	319	-18	17.4	14.8	- 2.6
Wales	168	165	-3*	15.3	14.3	- 1.0
Scotland	445	418	-27	21.0	18.6	- 2.4
Northern Ireland	111	96	-15	18.2	14.7	- 3.5

Source: LFS Microdata Service (autumn quarters) Base: employees in main job only. Excludes those who work at home or start work from home, the self employed and second jobs. *Changes smaller than 10,000 are not statistically robust

- For more information about Commute Smart Week please contact Michael Hardware on 020 7939 7989.

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Media enquiries:
Rob Holdsworth T: 020 7467 1372 M: 07717 531150 E: rholdsworth@tuc.org.uk
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Press release (800 words) issued 28 Oct 2008

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