More of us are working too long, say unions

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The TUC said an analysis of official figures showed 3.2million people worked more than 48 hours a week. That is more than 13 per cent of the workforce, up from 12.8 per cent last year.

The figures showed a "hard core" of bad employers were taking no notice of the law or calls to give staff a better worklife balance, said the TUC.

The biggest increase in the number working a 48-hour week was in the South-East and London, with 16 per cent of staff in the capital working long hours, the study found.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "Many employers recognise that overworked staff are unproductive and have introduced more flexibility and better work-life balance, often under union pressure.

"But it looks as if their efforts are being undone by those who don't care about long hours. Forty-eight hours is six eight-hour days - more than enough for anyone every week.

"There is undoubted abuse of the law but employers know they can get away with it because it is rarely enforced."

There is a European directive aimed at limiting hours but workers in Britain can opt out.