The government could clamp down on local councils introducing four-day working week policies after a local government secretary wrote to South Cambridgeshire District Council warning it that the arrangement has damaged performance.
South Cambridgeshire’s policy on four-day working has come under scrutiny for a number of years after it began a controversial trial of the arrangement in 2023. It was the first local authority in the country to move to a four-day week permanently.
Although researchers overseeing the trial claimed that the four-day working week arrangement had led to improvements in morale and productivity, the Liberal Democrat council was asked in July 2023 to end the trial by then local government minister Lee Rowley.
This is the first time a Labour minister has got involved with the policy, even though a group of MPs backed a proposed amendment to the Employment Rights Bill to consider a shorter working week.
According to a letter seen by The Telegraph newspaper, local government secretary Steve Reed has warned South Cambridgeshire that the policy has damaged performance based on an independent report. He also said it was not in line with government policy to provide 100% pay for 80% of workload.
He wrote to the council’s Liberal Democrat leader, Bridget Smith, citing a deterioration in rent collection and repairs.
The letter stated: “The independent report shows that performance declined in key housing-related services including rent collection, reletting times and tenant satisfaction with repairs, especially where vulnerable residents may be affected. If social housing is being built by this government and your team is unable to move residents into them so that they are standing empty then I must reiterate my deep disappointment with your conduct.”
Smith disputed the claims in the letter, reporting that staff had done “100% of their work in 32 hours each week” since the policy was introduced.
She said: “We have delivered an annual saving of almost £400,000, maintained and improved performance, our turnover has decreased by 41% and the number of applications for roles advertised has surged by 123%. Where we previously struggled to recruit and retain expert colleagues such as planners, we now have a full planning service which has just published our most ambitious local plan proposals ever, delivering on the government’s agenda to increase housing and jobs in our area. These results speak for themselves.”
Where key performance indicators had not shown an improvement, this was down to factors not associated with the four-day working week pattern, she added.
The government cannot impose a ban on the council because local authorities set their own working patterns; it can only reiterate guidance.
Joe Ryle, campaign director of the 4 Day Week Foundation, which has run a number of successful pilots with UK employers and worked with the council on its own trial, told Radio 4 that the government was cherry-picking a small number of statistics to prove a point.
“We’ve already had hundreds and hundreds of companies in the private sector move to a four-day week and it’s about time the public sector caught up with it. Let’s collect more evidence and let’s allow more councils to innovate.”
