City workers quit to start new life as freelancers

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As redundancies mount in the financial services sector, many are choosing to jump before they are pushed, new figures show. Many more employees who have already lost their jobs have decided to work for themselves.

PeoplePerHour.com, which acts as a business services marketplace, has seen its membership across the country soar from 5,000 at the end of March to 16,000.

Three thousand people are joining every month.

Many are former London bankers and accountants, according to the company's founder Xenios Thrasyvoulou.

"There are a lot of highly skilled workers who are thinking of how they can make a living outside a big corporation."

One former City worker who set up his own business is Ben White, 36. He left his £60,000-plus job as a systems manager at a stockbrokers nine months ago after becoming fed up with the growing stress.

He now runs Greyhound Computing from his Twickenham home. "There was an ominous feeling in the City after Northern Rock collapsed," he said. "The downturn gave me the push to start up alone.

"It's daunting at first but I have a three-year plan and I know I've got skills that people need."

He added: "I'm not envious of my colleagues still in the City who are slogging away worrying if they'll be sacked tomorrow."

Mr Thrasyvoulou said: "Some people are trying freelancing in the evenings while they still have a day job, so the transition to self-employment is less difficult."

About 2.6 million people now work from home, up 16 per cent on last year.