Keir Starmer has not announced a 32-hour working week from 2026

We’ve spotted several videos circulating on social media that claim the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has announced a 32-hour working week in the UK from 2026.

But no such policy has been announced. The videos include inauthentic audio with old clips of the PM.

Full Fact found versions of the claim shared on Facebook and Instagram, with one post on TikTok shared more than 2.2 million times. The clips, while slightly different, all feature audio that sounds like Mr Starmer speaking about changes to the working week.

Overlaid text on one Facebook clip says “Breaking: Shifting UK work culture: How the 32-hour workweek will change everything”.

The voiceovers, which have slightly different wording, say that from 2026, workers will only have to clock in three days a week, allowing people “four full days” off work.

However, we could find no reports of any such policy, as you would expect from such a dramatic change, and the government confirmed to Full Fact that these videos are inaccurate.

Reduced working hours

Although the government is not introducing a 32-hour working week across three days, there have been various trials of a four-day (32-hour) week for some workers in the public sector. In July, South Cambridgeshire District Council permanently adopted the four-day, full pay working pattern.

Some Labour MPs have also reportedly called on the government to commit to exploring a transition to four working days with no reduction in pay.

The recent tube strike in London also centred on demands for a reduction in the working week from 35 to 32 hours by the RMT union.

The videos are not authentic

There are clear signs that the audio in these clips of the Prime Minister is not genuine.

The cadence of the audio clips is extremely even and the intonation sounds stiff and unnatural, which suggests they may be AI-generated. Although less likely, we can’t rule out that they have been faked in another way, for example by using an impersonator. You can read more about how to spot AI audio, and the challenges of doing this, in our guide.

The videos also feature old footage of Mr Starmer. One Facebook video begins with a clip of the PM in front of a wood panelled wall in front of two Union Jack flags that actually shows him making a statement on Gaza in July.

Footage in another video shared on Facebook is also unrelated and shows Mr Starmer being questioned by the Liaison Committee in December 2024.

Fake stories about government plans

This is the latest in a pattern of videos we’ve been seeing lately that share misinformation about new policies or rules, for example claims that UK residents leaving the country more than three times a year will be flagged for additional income and tax checks and that the government must be notified about cash withdrawals over a certain amount.

We recently investigated several such videos falsely claiming that the UK government or other authorities are introducing new measures to limit personal freedoms, which have been shared hundreds of thousands of times. We found over a dozen TikTok accounts had been involved in sharing the videos. After we contacted the social media platform, it told us that all of them had been banned for breaching its rules which do not allow “misinformation that could cause significant harm to individuals or society”.

It’s important to consider whether information you see on social media comes from a trustworthy and verifiable source before sharing it. Our toolkit provides some advice about how to do this.