Council trialling four-day work week ordered to ‘end experiment immediately’
A council undergoing a four-day work week trial has been ordered to stop the experiment by a minister over concerns about local residents not getting value for money.
South Cambridgeshire District Council was the UK’s first local authority to launch a trial of a shorter working week for employees, and said it planned to extend the scheme until April.
But local government minister Lee Rowley has written to Liberal Democrat council leader Bridget Smith to “ask that you end your experiment immediately”.
Rowley said he had concerns about the “value for money” for local taxpayers.
‘Council clock off?’
Elliot Keck, from the Taxpayers’ Alliance, welcomed the move, saying: “Local taxpayers will be delighted to see the government joining us in opposing the council clock-off.”
The minister told South Cambs: “All councils are expected to ensure that finite and valuable taxpayers’ money is used in a way which demonstrates value for money.
“Something which paying employees for an extra day of work that is not carried out is unlikely to demonstrate.”
His letter, from 30 June, continued: “Removing up to 20 per cent of capacity is not something which should be acceptable for a council seeking to demonstrate value for money.”
Keck added: “A local authority which residents rely on for key services is not the place for a radical four-day week experiment. Any other public sector body considering implementing similar trials should do taxpayers a favour and scrap the plans.”
‘Huge success?’
Some private sector businesses have launched four-day week pilots as the corporate landscape shifts towards flexible working post-Covid.
The council said its four-day week trial was aimed at continuing to “deliver excellent services to residents and businesses while improving consistency and reducing costs”.
And Joe Ryle, director of the 4-Day Week campaign group, said: “This move flies in the face of all the evidence, which shows the four-day week has been a huge success at the council.
“The four-day week with no loss of pay is already being rolled out across the private sector so it’s only fair that the public sector is included too.”
Council leader Smith has requested a meeting with ministers to discuss the issue, and claimed independent data shows “performance was maintained at the level shortly before the trial, while some areas of performance data saw significant improvement”.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities will “shortly be issuing clear guidance” on the matter, Rowley said.