Starmer rejects civil servants’ demands for four-day working week

Sir Keir Starmer has rejected civil servants’ demands for a four-day working week, hours after a minister said: “We’re not living in the 1970s.”

Civil servants who are members of the PCS union have been campaigning for a four-day working week and on Wednesday released research they said could save the government £21.4m a year in one department.

However, Sir Keir Starmer’s official spokesman said it is “not government policy to support a four-day working week”.

“The civil service is working to deliver for working people day in, day out,” he added.

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The PCS called the government’s response “knee-jerk” and “disappointing”, and said ministers were being close-minded.

Pensions minister Emma Reynolds was more forthright in her response than Number 10, as she simply said civil servants “won’t get one”, in reference to a four-day week.

Asked why not, she told Times Radio: “Because we’re not living in the 1970s.”

Under Edward Heath’s Conservative government in 1973-1974, a three-day week was introduced to conserve electricity amid major strikes involving coal miners and railway workers.

Ms Reynolds added that she did not believe a four-day week for Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) staff would save £21.4m a year.

PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote said: “The government’s knee-jerk response is disappointing, especially as they ignore the evidence in front of them that a four-day week can lead to real gains, including financial savings, for employers and workers.

“Enlightened businesses are increasingly adopting the four-day-week for their staff because can see the clear benefits.

“Ministers should not close their minds just because the right-wing press has.”

Following Ms Reynolds’ 1970s comment, Ms Heathcote agreed we are not living in the 1970s but in the 2020s.

“The world of work has changed and more progressive employers are looking at different ways of working,” she told Times Radio.

Farmers reacted badly to the PCS DEFRA research after the government announced they would no longer be exempt from all inheritance tax.

Steve Ridsdale, chairman of the British Farming Union, said he was frustrated civil servants were asking for a four-day week “when asking us to work our socks off to pay a tax bill”.

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The PCS study, which saw more than 1,200 DEFRA staff interviewed, estimated staff turnover would reduce annually by 57% if they worked a four-day week, freeing up £21.4m a year, which could hire an additional 2,345 employees.

It said the sum is roughly equivalent to the department’s flood defence budget for Northumbria, an area at high risk of flooding.

The study found sickness absence could drop by 65%.

In February, it was revealed most of the UK companies that took part in the world’s largest-ever four-day working week trial had made the policy permanent.

Of the 61 organisations that took part in the six-month pilot in 2022, 54 (89%) were still operating the policy a year later.