Reduce the school week to four days a week
The Parliament petitions site records 126,014 signatures for this petition, which closed on 4 December 2025. The Government responded on 10 October 2025. MPs debated it in Westminster Hall on 5 January 2026.
The petition
The petition's creator is not named in the Petitions site's published record. Quoted in full from the UK Parliament petitions site.
Reduce the school week to four days a week
We urge the Government to require all schools to reduce the school week to four instead of five days by making each school day one hour longer whilst requiring the school week to be four instead of five days.
The Government's response
The Government published its response on 10 October 2025; the petitions site lists the Department for Education as responsible. Its summary:
The government has no plans to reduce the school week to four days. Regular attendance at school is vital for children’s education, well-being and long-term development as well as parental employment.
The response in full:
The government has no plans to require schools to reduce the length of the school week from five days to four by adding an additional hour to each of the four days.
To ensure children across the country have sufficient time in school to enable them to achieve and thrive, the Government has set a minimum expectation that all state-funded, mainstream schools will deliver a minimum school week of 32 hours and 30 minutes. Consistency in the length of the school week is essential for providing equal learning opportunities that will enable children and young people to achieve and thrive. While most state funded schools already meet this requirement, schools that don’t are encouraged to move towards doing so as soon as possible.
Reducing the school week to four days whilst still delivering the minimum expectation would mean a minimum school day of over 8 hours. Schools would have to deliver an additional 1 hour and 38 minutes per day across the four days to meet the weekly minimum requirement.
Reducing the school week would also have a damaging impact on parents, many of whom would need to make additional arrangements for childcare, reduce their working hours or potentially leave the workforce altogether. This would in turn put families under financial strain and have a damaging effect on the country’s economy.
Being in school, enjoying a broad and balanced education and achieving academically are key protective factors that help to promote mental health and well-being. Considering the wider benefits of time in school, the government therefore has no plans to reduce the school week from five days to four.
Department for Education
Where the signatures came from
Signatures came from 650 constituencies. Measured against each constituency's electorate at the 2024 general election, the most came from East Renfrewshire, with 7.2 signatures per 1,000 electors (540 in all).
125,196 of the signatures were from the UK and 818 from elsewhere, by the location signers gave.
| Constituency | Signatures | Electorate, July 2024 | Per 1,000 electors |
|---|---|---|---|
| East Renfrewshire | 540 | 74,626 | 7.2 |
| Brent West | 521 | 80,027 | 6.5 |
| Harrow East | 451 | 76,513 | 5.9 |
| Harrow West | 457 | 79,902 | 5.7 |
| Huddersfield | 446 | 77,795 | 5.7 |
| Gorton and Denton | 425 | 76,524 | 5.6 |
| Ealing North | 409 | 74,820 | 5.5 |
| Bradford East | 404 | 75,164 | 5.4 |
| Brent East | 420 | 77,547 | 5.4 |
| Chesham and Amersham | 402 | 74,889 | 5.4 |
| Region | Signatures |
|---|---|
| London | 19,801 |
| South East | 16,456 |
| North West | 15,586 |
| West Midlands | 10,918 |
| East of England | 10,753 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 9,783 |
| South West | 9,063 |
| East Midlands | 8,926 |
| Scotland | 8,423 |
| Wales | 5,344 |
| North East | 3,960 |
| Northern Ireland | 2,270 |
Debate in Parliament
MPs debated the petition in Westminster Hall on 5 January 2026. Read the debate in Hansard. House of Commons Library debate pack.
Source and receipt
- https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/727514.jsonUK Parliament Petitions API · read 2026-10-15 · SHA-256
0635a4abfdf128c0… - The petition on petition.parliament.uk
The petition's words are its creator's and the response is the Government's; this site quotes both and gives no view on either. Signature counts can still change while a petition is open. To report an error, send a correction request.