Leeds came first, followed by Hull in second place and York in fifth place, according to a study by UK IT Service.

The research looked at various work criteria, including employment opportunities, business success rates and internet speeds.

Leeds was crowned the ‘Work Opportunities Capital’ of the UK, posting particularly impressive scores in the “annual job growth” (10/10) and “employment percentage” (9.1/10) categories.

UK IT Service said this result comes as little surprise as Leeds was recently named “the UK’s fastest-growing city” – with a growing economy currently worth over £64bn, an impressive number of “business scale-ups” and billions of additional investment in the pipeline to maintain its exponential growth.

This comes as the city’s growing economic output was reported to top that of eight European countries.

Salford was third and Newport was in fourth place in the list of the top five places to work in the UK.

UK IT Service said US’s impressive performance comes in the wake of the historic county receiving £600m in funding, aimed at improving facilities at local colleges, boosting innovative industries and fuelling growth in apprenticeships. It expects local business productivity to continue its impressive growth going forward.

The bottom five UK cities for work opportunities were Worcester, Birmingham, Dundee, Bristol and Coventry.

UK IT Service said it was shocking that Birmingham featured as the second-worst UK city for productivity and work opportunities, which it said was especially damning considering the city’s local government recently revealed a project aimed at transforming the area and supporting sustainable business growth.

Vikki Durden, head of operations at UK IT Service, said: “It’s interesting to see which cities have topped the table for business productivity and work opportunities in the UK.

“We often think big cities like London and Birmingham are most attractive for workers, but our findings suggest they don’t necessarily offer the amenities, benefits or security desired by modern employees.

“With remote and flexible working opportunities set to continue and increase post-pandemic, employees could reap the rewards of looking for cities which offer the benefits they’re after, like affordable housing or internet speed, instead of simply following the crowd.”