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The top 10 cities for hybrid working (and the worst 10)

Christina Hoghton
Written By:
Christina Hoghton
Posted:
Updated:
27/04/2022

A good broadband connnection is one of the most important factors when choosing a home for the UK’s hybrid workers

York is the UK’s best place for hybrid working, according to Uswitch.

The comparison site said that the Northern city came top due to its superfast broadband, good schools, low crime, and closeness to Leeds.

Edinburgh and Belfast sit second and third in Uswitch’s Hybrid Working Index, which ranks the UK’s biggest towns and cities on eight metrics, including broadband speed, green spaces, air quality, crime rates, quality of schools, distance to closest hub city and GPs per 1,000 people.

Below are the top 10 places to live for hybrid working:

  1. York
  2. Edinburgh
  3. Belfast
  4. Redditch
  5. Harrogate
  6. Bristol
  7. Darlington
  8. St Helens
  9. Bath
  10. Exeter

The UK’s biggest cities rank further down in the index, with London 23rd, despite scoring well on amenities such as coffee shops. Yet the capital scored poorly on its crime figures and low percentage of green space, and was far down the field with an average download speed of 102 Mbps.

Staying connnected

With a quarter of workers (24%) planning to divide their time between home and a workplace regularly, broadband speed is the most important factor for three in five people (60%) when working from home.

One in four Brits (27%) would like to move house to have more flexible working arrangements and over a quarter (26%) say a more reliable broadband connection would encourage them to work from home more.

Before the pandemic, only one in 10 people (11%) divided their week between home and work, but this has now doubled (22%), and workers expect this to rise further over the next six months. The proportion of people solely working from their workplace has fallen from three quarters (76%) to just over half (56%) of workers.

Worst places for hybrid working

Hastings finished last on the list, with fellow seaside destinations Blackpool, Eastbourne and Southend-on-Sea also in the bottom 10:

  1. Hastings
  2. Norwich
  3. Ipswich
  4. Eastbourne
  5. Worcester
  6. Northampton
  7. Blackpool
  8. Slough
  9. Watford
  10. Southend-on-Sea

Ernest Doku, broadband expert at Uswitch.com, said: “The last few years have turned our working lives on their head, and many of us have enjoyed the benefits of leaving the commute behind and spending more time at home.

“It’s been an opportunity for many to escape the rat race, move away from the big cities and enjoy life in a more rural setting.

“If you’re moving to a new area to work remotely, the speed – and reliability – of your broadband connection will be one of the most important things about your new location.

“Do your research and pop your prospective postcode into an online comparison to see what speeds you could get before committing to a move. Once you’ve got the move confirmed, don’t forget to let your existing (and potentially new) broadband provider know, so you’re not caught short when the big day to switch comes.”


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