Four-day week a success, claims council

The council has been trialling a four-day week since January 2023

A council that has been trialling a four-day working week said independent research showed all of its services had improved or maintained standards.

Staff at Liberal Democrat-led South Cambridgeshire District Council have been trialling doing 100% of their work in about 80% of their hours since January 2023, without losing pay.

The authority said a new report showed the number of job applicants had risen by more than 120% and there were ongoing yearly savings of £399,263, due to reduced agency staff costs.

Full council will vote on whether to make the four-day week permanent this month. Tory group leader Heather Williams said residents were unsatisfied and called for more scrutiny.

Conservative Heather Williams has been critical of the plans

The council said an independent report from the Universities of Salford, Bradford and Cambridge highlighted how 21 out of 24 services had improved or stayed the same since 2023.

It claimed that if performance variations caused by the fallout of the Covid pandemic were discounted, every single service monitored either got better or stayed the same.

The trial process has not been a smooth road for the council. It was twice issued a Best Value Notice by the previous Conservative-led government.

The last one expired in November and was not renewed by Labour, who said they wanted to end "micromanaging local authorities".

The trial has been heavily criticised by opposition Conservative councillors.

Heather Williams, who has criticised the trial from the beginning, said the residents' survey had "shown that they have seen a decrease in satisfaction across the board".

"We're struggling to even find one place where residents think something has been maintained. Even when we look at the so-called representative surveys, there is still not a single improvement for residents."

She pledged to vote against making the four-day week permanent.

She also previously accused the council's leadership of trying to evade scrutiny.

The report will be discussed in a Scrutiny and Overview Committee meeting on 14 July.

Full council will then vote on whether to make the new working week permanent three days later.

"To have the meeting so close to full council does make me question whether the administration genuinely wishes to be scrutinised on this important issue," Ms Williams said.

"Whatever people's views on the four-day week, it is a fundamentally different way of working paid for at taxpayers' expense."

Lib Dem leader Bridget Smith said the council had to look at alternative ways to attract and retain staff

Liberal Democrat leader Bridget Smith said the trial had been a success due to the lower staff turnover and improved recruitment.

"These were particularly acute for us, having to compete with higher private sector pay in an area of high employment and housing costs," she said.

"There is now more consistency through lower staff turnover and improved health and wellbeing."

A permanent move would be subject to support by Cambridge City Council, which is due to discuss the plans on 24 July. This is because the councils share a number of services in planning and waste collection.

Labour's Cameron Holloway, who leads the city council, said: "We are also pleased to see the positive impact that the trial appears to have had on staff health and wellbeing.

"We are looking forward to reviewing and discussing the reports at our forthcoming full council [meeting]."