District delays final decision on four-day week until Government sets out its plans to stop the practice

South Cambridgeshire District Council has said it will continue with a four-day week until the Government sets out how it plans to use ‘financial levers’ within future local government settlements from 2025/26 to stop councils from working in this way.

When it confirmed the provisional local government finance settlement for 2024/25 in December last year, the Government said it would invite views on its proposals.

South Cambridgeshire said it needed to understand the full implications of any proposed changes in order to run its own consultation effectively – “as a consultation at this stage could mean consulting again once that information has been provided”. 

The district’s decision comes as it published a report on its initial three-month trial of a four-day week.

This found, amongst other things, that the council had spent £434,000 less on agency staff. This had been achieved by filling 10 permanent roles that the council previously struggled to recruit to - particularly in the Planning Service. (The council shares Greater Cambridge Shared Planning with Cambridge City Council)

The council said it plans to have the data from the subsequent 12-month trial independently reviewed after the end of March 2024.  

South Cambridgeshire District Council’s Lead Cabinet Member for Resources, Cllr John Williams, said: “Our four-day week trial is about improving the consistency of services to residents and businesses – by helping us attract and keep hold of talented staff in a hugely competitive job market.

“We know we cannot compete on salary alone and so must find new ways of tackling our recruitment and retention issues. These are particularly acute in South Cambridgeshire due to the cost of housing locally. Importantly, we’ve spent £434,000 less on using agency staff to cover 10 roles we classed as hard to fill before the trial. This is because, since announcing the trial, we have been able to fill these roles permanently – rather than using agency workers to cover.

“We expected to be able to run a consultation about the four-day week shortly after the trial ends at the end of March – but the Government’s own recent consultation into using financial levers to disincentivise councils from proceeding with a four-day week means we now can’t. We need to understand what the Government mean by this before we can effectively consult. Today’s report therefore sets out the proposed next steps.”

The report, which can be viewed here, will be discussed at South Cambridgeshire District Council’s Employment and Staffing Committee on 29 February, before Cabinet members decide on the trial’s next steps at their meeting on 12 March.