A minister has said civil servants “won’t get” a four-day week, after the PCS union said it could save money and improve productivity.
Research published by PCS yesterday suggested the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs could save north of £20m a year in recruitment,training and lost productivity costs by cutting down on staff turnover, as well as cutting down on sick days.
But pensions minister Emma Reynolds today flatly rejected the union’s cost-saving estimate and its assertion that a four-day week is “critical to attaining a good quality of life”.
“I don’t believe them,” she told Times Radio.
“I see the benefit for those who want to have the flexibility to be able to work part time. I'm a mum of two young children. And you know, sometimes I wish that I worked part time. But I don't think as a whole that civil servants as a general rule should work four days rather than five," she said.
Asked about the proposal, Reynolds said: “Well, they won’t get one.”
Pressed further on why she had rejected the idea so definitively, she added: “Because we are not living in the 1970s”. The comment was an apparent reference to the three-day week implemented by then-prime minister Edward Heath to conserve electricity, amid shortages caused by industrial action by coal miners and railway workers.
Responding to the minister’s comments, PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote said: "No, we’re not. We’re living in the 2020s and we’ve moved on from then and adopted smarter working practices.”
PCS published the research as part of its campaign for Defra to trial a four-day week for its staff, which kicked off last year when it backed a petition from civil servants in the department calling for a pilot.
The union also found overwhelming support among its members in the department for a shorter work week, with 80% saying it would benefit their health and wellbeing in a survey of more than 1,200 staff.
The 4 Day Week Campaign, which also backed the petition, said today that Reynolds sounds like “a Tory minister stuck in the past”.
Director Joe Ryle added: “The truth is that the 9-5, five-day working week is outdated and no longer fit for purpose. It was invented 100 years ago and we are long overdue an update.
“As hundreds of British companies and one local council have already shown, a four-day week with no loss of pay can be a win-win for both workers and employers.”
A Defra spokesperson said there were no plans for a four-day week.