Compressed hours

The same hours fit into fewer days

Compressed hours keep an employee's total working time the same but spread it over fewer, longer days. Acas describes compressed hours as working the same total hours over fewer days, such as 4 days each week instead of 5, or 9 days each fortnight instead of 10. A 40-hour week of five 8-hour days, for example, becomes four 10-hour days.

Part-time work reduces the total, such as 32 hours a week instead of 40. Flexitime moves start and finish times, and annualised hours set a yearly total. Compressed hours change only how many days the same hours take.

Handle the request like any flexible-working request

A compressed pattern can be agreed informally or through a statutory request. In Great Britain, employees can make a statutory request from their first day. Since 6 April 2024, the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 has allowed two requests in any 12 months and required the employer to consult before refusing one. The decision, including any appeal, is due within two months unless the employee agrees to longer. GOV.UK sets out the current process.

Northern Ireland follows its separate flexible-working rules.

Count holiday and bank holidays in hours

Statutory annual leave is 5.6 weeks. Recording it in hours keeps a compressed pattern level with colleagues on the same total. An employee on 40 hours a week has 224 hours whether they work four days or five. Leaving a 28-day allowance unchanged after the move would give 280 hours instead.

Check rest, working time and pay

Longer days still sit inside the working-time rules. Most adult workers who work more than six hours in a day are entitled to a 20-minute break, plus 11 hours' rest between working days and weekly rest. Some shift and other workers get compensatory rest instead. GOV.UK lists the rest-break rules. The 48-hour average weekly limit applies unless the worker has opted out. Workers under 18 cannot work more than eight hours a day, which usually rules out a compressed full-time week.

Pay normally stays the same because the hours do. Check any overtime or shift rule that is triggered by daily rather than weekly hours, then confirm the new days, daily hours, start date and any trial period as a contract variation.