TUC: Cost of housing blamed for increased commuting

The number of commuters spending more than two hours travelling to and from work has increased by 72% over the past 10 years - with high house prices the major factor.

So say the TUC which has analysed data from the Office for National Statistics.

The TUC claims those travelling more than two hours per day has risen from 1.7m in 2004 to 3.0m in 2014; those travelling for three or more hours a day has risen by 75% from 500,000 to 880,000 over the last decade.

Women employees have borne the brunt of this growth in long commuting, with a 90% rise in those travelling for two hours or more each day and a 131 per cent per cent increase in those travelling three hours or more since 2004.

Unsurprisingly the biggest increases in commuting for more than two hours have been in the South East but this is closely followed by the South West, along with the East Midlands and Wales.

On average UK commuting times rose by three minutes a day from 2004 to 2014, from 52 to 55 minutes, meaning people are spending on average 11 hours and 42 minutes longer a year commuting now than they were 10 years ago.