Employers and ministers should call time on Britain's long hours culture, the TUC has said.

General secretary Brendan Barber called for government and business to take action to cut the long hours employees routinely work.

"We have to make some big decisions about the way we work in this country," he told the group Working Families.

"Three out of 10 people feel they spend too much time at work. Among those aged between 35 and 55, it was four in 10. Nearly nine in 10 workers want to spend more time with friends and family."

Call for action

Barber called for more action against employers that flout the working time regulations by making their staff opt out.

And he went on to call for greater enforcement of the law.

A campaign being championed by chancellor Gordon Brown plans to see more people doing volunteering for charities or community groups.

But Barber warned the attitude of many employers meant there was little spare time for worthy organisations.

He pointed to a 30 per cent drop in people helping good causes since 1995.

"Work is preventing people from doing so much more with their lives - volunteering for good causes, playing more sport, learning new skills," he said.

Local politics

He also said the long hours culture was preventing people playing a part in local politics by becoming councillors.

"We work among the longest hours of any European country. Indeed British men work the longest hours in Europe, with nearly a third of all fathers routinely working more than 48 hours a week," Barber said.

Worst hit are low-income workers and low-income families who are most vulnerable to abuse by their employers.

"There's a vast army of low-paid workers who have to work long hours simply to make ends meet," he said.

"The people who keep the City of London functioning, who do the cleaning, the portering, the delivering, the catering.

"People who often do their job when many of us are fast asleep. People who are often exploited as a matter of course. They can't buy their way to a better quality of life."

The solution is a flexible approach that suits the needs of both workers and business, he argued.

"With a bit of goodwill, we can develop practices that benefit both the business and the workforce," Barber said.