16m accessed work emails over Xmas

One in 10 Brits spent more than 10 hours working from home over the Christmas period when they were supposed to be taking a break, research has revealed.

A survey by ISP TalkTalk found that more than a third of us – 34 per cent – admitted to accessing work systems or emails at some stage over the festive break.

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This rose to nearly half of all 35- to 44-year-olds questioned.

However, many people spent significant amounts of time online while not actually working during the break too, with 20 per cent saying that they watched or downloaded TV from the web during the holiday.

Mark Schmid of TalkTalk said: "As recently as 10 years ago, most of our time over the festive period was spent with our nearest and dearest, or slumped in front of the telly.

"Now we're spending big chunks of our Christmas time playing games online, watching TV over the internet or social networking," he continued.