Workers in the UK could be given the right to request a four-day working week under new government plans but would still need to clock in their usual contracted hours.
The education minister, Jacqui Smith, on Friday morning dismissed reports of businesses being forced to accept these demands but said workers could be given the option to work fewer days through “compressed hours”.
She told LBC radio: “We think that flexible working is actually good for productivity. So the four-day week that I know is on the front of quite a lot of newspapers today, what we’re actually talking about there is the type of flexible working that enables you to use compressed hours.
“So perhaps instead of working eight hours a day for five days, you work 10 hours a day for four days. So you’re still doing the same amount of work, but perhaps you’re doing it in a way that enables you, for example, to need less childcare, to spend more time with your family, to do other things, that encourages more people into the workplace, which is an enormous part of that growth mission.”
Asked about jobs such as teachers, who would not be able to do a four-day week using compressed hours, Lady Smith said: “Well, no, and nor can lots of other people, but that doesn’t mean that those people that can do it shouldn’t have the ability to do it.”
A Department for Business and Trade spokesperson also denied Labour would impose the working pattern on businesses.
A Whitehall spokesperson said: “We have no plans to impose a four-day working week on employers or employees. Any changes to employment legislation will be consulted on, working in partnership with business.
“Our Make Work Pay plan is designed around increasing productivity and creating the right conditions for businesses to support sustained economic growth. Many employers already provide good, family-friendly conditions for their workers because they know that doing so improves morale and retention.
“We are working in close partnership with business and civil society to find the balance between improving workers’ rights while supporting the brilliant businesses that pay people’s wages.”
The Department for Business and Trade said it would set out further details of its approach within 100 days.
Joe Ryle, the director of the 4 Day Week campaign, welcomed the proposals as a step towards reducing the UK’s overall working hours.
He said: “This is a welcome move from the government, which recognises that the future of work we are heading for is a four-day week for all. However, these proposals would only allow workers to compress their working hours rather than reduce them, which we have found is key for improving work-life balance and also maintaining productivity.
“Compressing the same amount of hours into four days rather than five can be an important first step on the road to a true four-day week – but reducing overall working hours is crucial.”
Paul Nowak, general secretary of the TUC, said it was about developing pattens of work needed for a modern economy and workforce: “Good employers already recognise the benefits flexible working can bring to their workforces and businesses, whether it’s through increasing staff productivity or higher retention.
“Offering people flexible working arrangements makes good economic sense.”
Two days after Rishi Sunak called the general election in May, Labour released a document titled Plan To Make Work Pay. The plan did not propose a four-day week but committed the party to banning zero-hours contracts, replacing them with documents that reflected the number of hours an employee regularly worked, a “genuine living wage” and an end to “fire and rehire” practices by which workers were laid off and then re-employed on new terms.
A Labour source told the Telegraph the Conservative party made a similar proposal in its 2019 election manifesto, which stated: “We will encourage flexible working and consult on making it the default unless employers have good reasons not to.”