UK workers could soon demand four-day working week from boss under new government plans

Those working in the UK could soon be given the legal right to request a four day working week under revolutionary plans being brought forward by the new Labour government.

But whether your request will be accepted or not cannot be guaranteed, the Government has warned.

Under the new plans being brought forward by Sir Keir Starmer's government, UK employees are set to be given the right to ask to work their weekly contracted hours over a four day period as opposed to the standard five.

It comes days after leaked Government plans showed Starmer is set to launch a huge crackdown on smoking in public places, including beer gardens.

A spokesperson for the Department for Business and Trade told the BBC that they hoped the four-day working week concept would 'increase productivity' across the country's industries, as well as aid in getting more people 'back in to work'.

The PA news agency also reports that any plan to open up 'compressed hours' to more workers would not result in bank holiday-style weekends each week.

Instead, employees would usually need to work their contracted hours - even if they choose to over fewer days.

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."

Keir Starmer's Labour government is behind the plans (Ian Vogler - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

They added: "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.”

More details about this are expected within the Government's first 100 days in office.

It comes after Labour promised it would ban zero-hour contracts in a document titled 'Labour’s Plan To Make Work Pay'; released just two days after the 2024 general election was called by former PM, Rishi Sunak.

Instead of zero-hour contracts, Labour has said they should be replaced them with documents which reflect the number of hours a person regularly works.

Following on from the mooted four day working week plans, Conservative shadow business secretary Kevin Hollinrake said that businesses were 'petrified' about the plans.

He said: "Despite warning after warning from industry, [Deputy Prime Minister] Angela Rayner is pressing ahead with her French-style union laws that will make doing business more expensive in the UK."

You would have to work your contracted hours over the four day period (Getty Stock Images)

Meanwhile, Labour's education minister, Baroness Jacqui Smith, dismissed reports that businesses would be forced to accept employee's demands for a four-day week, telling 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. 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."