District to consider “ground-breaking” trial of four-day week for desk-based staff

Cabinet members at a district council are to consider whether to hold a three-month trial of a four-day week for desk-based staff.

South Cambridgeshire District Council said the trial could begin in January. Around 470 staff would be able to take part.

The local authority suggested that experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic meant “people now think differently about work-life priorities; nationally and locally it is harder than ever to recruit and retain staff”.

A report for a Cabinet meeting on 12 September outlines how, if members agree to the trial, the council will closely monitor what impact it has on services for residents and businesses.

These service levels cannot drop if a four-day week is to be considered as a viable option in the longer term, the local authority said.

It added that it would use its standard set of statistics which are regularly updated. “These keep a check on things like how long it takes the council to process benefits claims, council house rent collections, how fast planning applications are determined, staff turnover, call answering times and more.”

Industry-standard health and wellbeing surveys will also be used to measure success and be compared against the results from a survey carried out last month, before the four-day week trial was announced to staff.

The next steps, which could include a longer trial period, would be dependent on the performance of council services during the first three months of 2023.      

As part of the trial, the council would also look to extend the hours that it is open to the public via a soon-to-be-launched webchat service or Teams / Zoom meetings.

South Cambridgeshire said that, for more than a year, it had only been able to fill around eight out of every ten (or fewer) of its vacancies. Between January and March 2022, only around half were filled.

“There are currently 23 agency staff covering office-based roles, which should ideally be filled by people in permanent positions. Over a whole year, these agency staff could cost the council more than £2m. If the council filled all these posts with permanent staff, it would only cost around £1m per year.”

It also suggested that not being able to fill vacant posts – or switching between agency staff to cover them – was also disruptive to services for residents.

The council said: “A four-day week is when people work one less day per week but still get paid the same salary. It is not the same as compressed hours, which is working the traditional 37-hour week over four long days.

“A four-day week, which for a full-time employee at the council would consist of 30 hours, can make an organisation stand out from others and be more attractive to talent. It is also seen as a tangible incentive to encourage staff to stay.”

Another aspiration of the trial is to investigate whether it would help the council to attract a more diverse workforce.

The Leader of South Cambridgeshire District Council, Cllr Bridget Smith, said: “The trial would be all about seeing if a four-day week has the same positive impact on productivity, staff wellbeing and recruitment in Local Government, as seen elsewhere.

“As a council we are leading the way on this; it could be truly ground-breaking for local councils nationally……Attracting and retaining staff is an issue for most councils. Therefore, along with lots of organisations from around the world, we think this is something that is worth investigating.”

The 4 Day Week Campaign started a trial involving about 70 companies in the UK in June. It covers around 3,300 employees.

Joe Ryle, Director of the 4 Day Week Campaign, said: “The decision by South Cambridgeshire District Council to outline plans to become the first ever UK local authority to trial a four-day week is historic and should be applauded. This move could benefit thousands of workers, improve productivity, and help to tackle the job recruitment crisis in Local Government. We hope this trial, if approved, results in many more councils across the country embracing the four-day week.”

If the trial is approved, the council’s Employment and Staffing Committee will receive update reports and be asked to report back with recommendations following the end of the trial.