Workers will be allowed to demand four day week under new plans

UK workers could soon be given the right to demand a four-day work week under new government plans to increase flexible working.

Employees would be required to work their full hours to get their full pay – but could compress the working time into an overall shorter working week, it’s understood.

A spokesperson at the Department for Business and Trade told the BBC the plan was to ‘increase productivity’ and help get more people ‘back into work’.

But education minister Baroness Jacqui Smith dismissed reports of a businesses being forced to accept employees’ demands for a four-day week.

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.’

The 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.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.