Proposal 23: Britain Open Seven Days a Week

The core idea

Britain’s economy, public services and payment systems are still too often organised around a five-day operating week. That can delay decisions, restrict access and leave productive capacity unused.

Proposal 23 would move Britain towards increasing seven-day operation. Public services would become available across more of the week, while businesses would be encouraged to extend operating days through practical incentives and modern digital infrastructure.

This is an operating model, not a requirement for every person to work seven days. Coverage would be provided through additional employment, staggered teams, predictable rotas and flexible working patterns.

Public services and economic activity available across seven days.

Seven-day availability is not the same as seven-day working for every individual.

Where the change would apply

Public services

HMRC, DWP, local authorities, licensing, planning and customer services would increasingly operate seven days a week.

Businesses

Employers would be encouraged—not universally compelled—to extend opening and operating patterns where viable.

Digital access

Online public services would support applications, information, payments and case progress throughout the week.

Banking alignment

Extended banking arrangements would connect this policy with the forthcoming weekend-banking proposal.

Designed alongside Policy 25

Policy 26 must be read alongside Policy 25: A Four-Day Working Economy. One changes the standard individual working pattern; the other changes the national operating week.

A shorter standard full-time pattern can coexist with longer organisational availability when different workers and teams cover different parts of the week. Neither policy requires every workplace to adopt an identical rota.

Policy 25: The individual

Moves the standard full-time pattern towards approximately 32 hours across four days where appropriate, with defined working patterns and adequate rest.

Policy 26: The organisation

Uses staggered teams, recruitment, technology and redesigned processes to provide wider organisational coverage.

Four days for the worker can sit within seven days for Britain—if coverage is designed fairly.

How seven-day operation would be supported

Business Rate reductions

Targeted reductions could encourage additional operating days where this creates genuine economic activity and better access.

Flexible employment rules

Varied schedules would be enabled while retaining clear protections for rest, predictability, family life and worker consent.

Digital public services

Investment would allow more routine services to be accessed and processed throughout the week.

Extended banking

Business, salary and government payments should not be unnecessarily held over weekends.

Additional employment

Longer organisational coverage may create new roles, shifts and entry points for people seeking work or additional hours.

Sector flexibility

Adoption, staffing and opening patterns would reflect demand, operational need and sector-specific evidence.

Shared time is part of the economy too

A seven-day economy offers potential benefits, but it also creates a serious social-design question. Time outside employment is not purely individual. Family gatherings, team sport, religious worship, community activity and friendship often depend on people being free at the same time.

Parents may face particular difficulty if weekend working is imposed while schools and childcare remain organised around a conventional week. A successful model must expand availability without treating every day as interchangeable or every worker as permanently available.

Synchronised rest

Should two days each week remain the social default for non-employment wherever operationally possible?

Childcare

How would weekend staffing interact with school schedules, affordable childcare and single-parent households?

Family and community

How can rotas protect regular opportunities for families, clubs, faith groups and communities to gather?

Sector necessity

Which services genuinely require continuous coverage, and which only require better access during selected weekend hours?

Extend access across seven days while preserving predictable rest, worker choice and meaningful shared time wherever operationally possible.

Workforce safeguards requiring design

Predictable rotas

Workers should receive reasonable notice and should not face constantly changing schedules.

Genuine choice

Weekend work should not become an informal condition imposed without consultation or contractual clarity.

Rest protection

Longer organisational coverage must not weaken daily or weekly rest or encourage unsafe consecutive working.

Fair reward

Pay, premiums, overtime and unsocial-hours arrangements require transparent sector and workplace agreements.

Equality test

The policy must examine unequal effects on carers, disabled workers, families and lower-paid employees.

Pilot and review

Trials should measure access, output, staffing, wellbeing, absence, retention and community effects.

Questions for scrutiny

The direction is defined, but implementation should be shaped by evidence, workers, employers, service users and sector specialists.

Which public services would benefit most from seven-day availability, and what weekend coverage is actually needed?
Should two shared non-working days remain the default wherever operationally possible?
How can weekend work remain voluntary, predictable and fairly rewarded?
What childcare provision would be required for parents working when schools are closed?
How should Business Rate reductions be targeted and evaluated?
What additional staffing would seven-day public services require, and how would it be funded?
Which services can operate digitally and where must a trained human decision-maker remain available?
How should productivity, service access, worker wellbeing and community participation be measured together?
What safeguards are required for small employers, carers, disabled workers, shift workers and people holding more than one job?
How should Policies 25 and 26 be piloted together before wider implementation?

Core commitment

Public services will increasingly operate seven days a week. Businesses will be encouraged to extend operation through Business Rate reductions, flexible employment arrangements, digital public services and extended banking—with implementation designed to protect rest, predictability, family life and worker choice.

The intended destination is a more accessible, productive and economically active Britain. Success would mean services available when people need them and organisations operating across more of the week—without making permanent availability the price workers pay for reform.

Source basis: Manifesto 1.1, Part X, Policy 26 / Major Promise 23, read alongside Policy 25 / Major Promise 22 and Policy 27 / Major Promise 24. The proposed safeguards remain open to scrutiny and are not presented as settled implementation rules.

Britain: Open Seven Days a Week