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Home Working

​Homeworkers or home workers are defined by the International Labour Organization as people working from their homes or from other premises of their choosing other than the workplace, for payment, which results of a product or service specified by the employer. There are an estimated 300 million homeworkers in the world, though because these workers generally function in the informal economy, and are seldom registered and often not contracted, exact numbers are difficult to come by. Recently, the phenomenon of homework has grown with increased communication technology, as well as changes in supply chains, particularly the development of Just In Time inventory systems. Homeworkers differ from entrepreneurs, or self-employed, or family business, in that they are hired by companies for specific activities or services to be done from their homes. Homeworkers do not own or operate the business they work for. Though there is a significant body of highly skilled homeworkers, particularly in information technology, most homeworkers are considered low skilled labour.

​Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.)[note 1] is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west. The city of Cambridge is the county town. Modern Cambridgeshire was formed in 1974 through the amalgamation of two older counties: Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely, comprising the historic county of Cambridgeshire (including the Isle of Ely); and Huntingdon and Peterborough, comprising the historic county of Huntingdonshire and the Soke of Peterborough, which historically had been part of Northamptonshire. Cambridgeshire contains most of the region known as Silicon Fen.

The county is now divided between Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council, which since 1998 has formed a separate unitary authority. In the county there are five district councils, Cambridge City Council, East Cambridgeshire District Council, Fenland District Council, Huntingdonshire District Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council.[4]