Homeworkers should ensure they network regularly and "get out and about" to avoid becoming isolated. That's the top tip from one home-based worker in Bradford, named as a homeworking hotspot in a BT-sponsored report last week.

Jacqueline Thompson, who set up her own events company a year ago, points out that avoiding rush-hour congestion by working from home facilitates such activity.

"Having a home-based office is also a lower-cost option for new entrepreneurs, and technology makes working from home much easier these days," she adds to the Bradford Telegraph and Argus. "It's vital, however, not to become isolated. Working from home is not a nine-to-five existence and it's important that you can close the office door and leave work behind."

In the 2009 Home Business Report, home-based business Enterprise Nation called for more grants and government support for the rapidly-growing number of homeworkers in the UK.

The report revealed that 300,000 people have set up home-based enterprises in the last 12 months, mainly because of redundancy or job insecurity. That takes the UK total to 2.8 million.

Analysts commented that technological developments, better work-life balance and lower financial risk make homeworking more viable and acceptable than ever.