Working from home could soon become the norm as ministers look to make flexible working a permanent feature of life after coronavirus, with plans to strengthen employees' right to work from home or ask for different hours.

The government is said to be preparing to support the right of employees to work from home with a public consultation later this year.

Plans could mean more people working from home and some never fully returning to office life.

The plans, first reported by the Times, emerge after Boris Johnson predicted that the nations 'great cities' would soon be 'full of buzz and life and excitement again'.

But the move could cause concern about the future of struggling city centres.

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The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is reportedly looking at how to extend flexible working rights which allow workers to ask their employer to change their hours.

Currently firms are supposed to consider the requests and make a decision within three months.

Changes could see people able to request flexible working or home working whenever it suits them.

The Times said the Government figures are in favour of setting out a simple legal right to work from home, after the pandemic saw a shift in how many people do their jobs.

One minister told the newspaper: 'Covid has moved the flexible working agenda on years.

'As we recover from lockdown there's lots we can do to keep the freedoms people have gained to set their own working patterns.'