Four-day working week under Labour: How it could work and who is supporting it

More employees could get the chance to do a four-day working week as Labour leaders voice support for the idea.

Back in August, a month after Labour came to power, it was reported that the party planned to give workers rights to demand a four-day week in law.

However, the idea of “imposing” the working pattern was then muted by education minister Baroness Jacqui Smith, who also said such a scheme would not work in every industry.

But, speaking to LBC, she added that flexible working was good for productivity, and that a four-day working week could work in a compressed form with four days of working 10 hours a week.

Also, last week, deputy prime minister Angela Rayner suggested four-day weeks could improve productivity in local government.

Ms Rayner, who is also the Local Government Secretary, said: “We don’t dictate to councils how they run their services. We work with councils and I think (Kemi Badenoch) should be able to work out that flexible working is no threat to business, no threat to the economy, in fact, it would boost productivity.”

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Under current rules, workers have the right to request flexible working, but employers aren’t legally obliged to agree.

Speaking in August, Baroness Smith said: “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.”

This week, 17 UK companies, including Crate Brewery in Hackney and the British Society for Immunology, are joining a six-month experiment to test the viability of a four-day working week.

It comes as nearly 200 British businesses have switched to a four-day week permanently, according to the 4 Day Week Campaign, which is leading the pilot.

Ahead of July’s election, the campaign group called on political parties to back a reduction of the maximum working week from 48 hours to 32 by the end of the decade, with no loss of pay.

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A study showed that the policy was popular among UK companies, with most that participated in a ground-breaking trial making the policy permanent. The study, the largest ever of its kind, tested the new way of working in 61 companies, with 54 of them (89 per cent) still operating the policy a year later.

However, the Conservatives warn that the policy will negatively impact businesses and hit economic growth.

Kevin Hollinrake, the Tory shadow business secretary, said: “Despite warning after warning from industry, Angela Rayner is pressing ahead with her French-style union laws that will make doing business more expensive in the UK.

“Labour must listen to businesses who are petrified about day one employment rights and bringing in the four-day week through the back door. It will be businesses and consumers who pay and growth that suffers if they don’t listen.”

Labour ministers have insisted they have “no plans” to force businesses to accept a four-day working week.