IN a study of the 52 largest towns and cities in the UK, Reading has been named as the fourth 'hardest-working' place.

A new online tool has used a variety of factors, including average hours worked, unemployment rate and commute time, to determine the hardest working places in the UK, displaying the results on an interactive map, with Birmingham, Bristol and Milton Keynes coming out on top.

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All users need to do is enter their chosen city, and the tool will take them to an interactive map, showing how the location ranks in terms of the hardest working cities.

Looking at the largest towns and cities, the tool found the hardest working locations to be:

1.Birmingham

2.Bristol

3.Milton Keynes

4.Reading

5Southend

6.Oxford

7.Cambridge

8.London

9.Brighton

10.Portsmouth

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Conversely, the cities found at the other end of the scale were Hull, Burnley, Sunderland, Blackburn and Swansea.

As well as showing the ranking, the tool displays figures like the average number of hours worked, unemployment rate, commute time, GDHI (Gross Disposable Household Income) per person, number of start-ups and total jobs.

In addition to the ranking, users are able to see how their location compares to other cities, showing a direct comparison of data between the two.

The tool can be found here.

Richard Petrie, marketing director from the developers on the online tool, said: "Britain is certainly a nation that knows how to work hard, so it was interesting to look at different factors associated with this to see how working varied across the nation.

"We spend so much of our lives at work, so it’s important to give yourself enough time to wind-down and relax when you are not there."