Local Government Minister asks council to end four-day working week trial
Local Government Minister Lee Rowley has sent a formal request to South Cambridgeshire District Council to end its four-day working week trial, arguing that such an approach could impact its ‘Best Value Duty’ under the Local Government Act.
In May, the council announced an extension of its three-month trial of a four-day working week until March 2024, after judging it a success in helping with staff recruitment and retention.
Reports to its employment and staffing committee found productivity had been "broadly maintained" and said the four-day week for all desk-based staff should continue and be extended to those in facilities management.
However, in a letter to council leader Bridget Smith, Lee Rowley asked the council to “end [its] experiment immediately” and said he had concerns about the “value for money” for local taxpayers.
He wrote in the letter dated 30 June: "As I am sure you are aware, 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.”
He added: “Whilst some private sector organisations may choose to experiment with their own capital and capacity regarding ‘4-day working weeks’, local government should not do the same.”
Rowley noted that the four-day week approach could impact on the council’s ‘Best Value Duty’ as required by the Local Government Act 1999, and said the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities would "shortly be issuing clear guidance".
In response to the letter from Lee Rowley, Cllr Bridget Smith, Leader of South Cambridgeshire District Council, said: “I was surprised to receive Mr Rowley’s letter and we have written to him to request a meeting with Ministers to discuss this matter. This is a trial, but we have already seen strong independently assessed evidence which showed that performance was maintained, and in some cases improved, in the first 3 months.
“At the start of our trial we were carrying a £2 million annual agency bill. During the first 3 months of the trial, we filled four permanent posts that had previously been impossible to fill. This has reduced our annual bill by £300,000. As time goes on it is becoming increasingly clear that recruitment has been positively affected, both in terms of the quality and number of applicants, and the consequent success in filling vacant posts.”
Lottie Winson
