Give workers four-day week with no pay cut, unions say

The government should give workers the legal right to request a four-day working week from their employers with no loss of pay, MPs and unions have urged.

- JON STONE

It comes as businesses across the country pilot or switch to a four-day week, amid emerging evidence it is good for productivity and staff wellbeing.

In a letter to business minister Kevin Hollinrake, the MPs and trade unionists said the five-day week was "no longer conducive to the needs of the 21st century", having been created over 100 years ago for an "unrecognisable" industrial and agricultural economy.

Signatories of the letter include John McDonnell, the former shadow chancellor, Caroline Lucas, the Green MP, and Mark Serwotka, the general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union.

It is also backed by the TUC's head of rights Kate Bell, and Peter Dowd, the Labour MP for Bootle, who has brought forward a private members' bill that would enshrine the right in law if passed.

Employees already have a right to request flexible working under the Flexible Working Regulations 2014 and ministers are now being urged to update those rules to cover a four-day week with no loss of pay.

Under the existing rules, bosses have to handle requests for flexible working in a "reasonable manner", generally by assessing the advantages and disadvantages of the application.