‘Unstoppable’: four-day week could be within reach for British workers

As campaigners seize on how Covid shook up work, 70 UK firms embark on largest trial yet of shorter week

Five days on, two days off has been the defining pulse of British labour for more than 80 years. But as 70 UK companies embark on the largest trial yet of a four-day week, the working calendar may finally be changing.

Campaigners are seizing on the way Covid shook up working lives to push back the boundaries of the weekend for the first time since the postwar years when the whole of Saturday became a day off for most. One advocate predicts a four-day week could be available to the majority in Britain within five years and Stephen Fry this week gave his voice to an increasingly confident four-day week campaign, which argues shorter hours boosts productivity, cuts carbon emissions and improves family life - all without cutting pay.