Bosses of businesses in the UK should not be afraid to refuse staff more flexible working arrangements if they believe it will harm their business, a legal firm has claimed.

UK's leading legal expenses insurer DAS revealed that 2.7 million people are now eligible to use faster internet connections to work more flexibly from home. However, the firm said that bosses should not feel they always have to let workers work in this way.

"The laws clearly favour employees," explained Rhian Gait-Parker, a DAS advice services manager. "Yet there is often confusion between actual rights and the requirement for employers to reasonably consider requests.

"By following the correct procedures, employers may still turn down such requests if they can show an appropriate business reason.

"Good information is vital. This should preferably be provided by experienced legal advisors who can take you through every step of the process, ensuring businesses take the best course of action."

However, experts speaking at the recent Work Wise Week conference revealed that making use of IT facilities to allow more people to work from home could reduce stress for employees and costs for bosses.