Government and district council at loggerheads over performance of services following adoption of four-day working week

According to The Telegraph, which obtained a copy of the letter to Cllr Bridget Smith, Communities Secretary Steve Reed sought “assurance about the arrangements your council has in place to consider the impacts of your policy, and that value for money for residents is being delivered.

“In particular, I would like to understand how the council is seeking to mitigate the impact to those services which have worsened over the course of the four-day working week trial.”

In July this year, South Cambridgeshire voted to adopt a four-day work week permanently, after considering independent research that showed most services improved or stayed the same under the work programme and in light of a "remarkable" boost to recruitment.

The council initially ran a three-month trial of a four-day week at the start of 2023, which was then extended for one year.

Under the council’s four-day week, staff are expected to carry out 100 per cent of their work, in around 80 per cent of their contracted hours, without reduction in pay.

Responding to the Secretary of State’s correspondence, Cllr Bridget Smith wrote in a letter to Government: “Since implementing the four-day week, our turnover has decreased by 41% and the number of applications for roles advertised has increased by 123%. 

“Despite the decline in % of housing rent collected, it is important to note that this KPI remained above the council’s KPI intervention level throughout. Results in relation to this KPI are not therefore considered as cause for concern, particularly considering the context of the cost-of-living crisis, which is a key factor that has impacted on collection rates nationally.”

She continued: “On the KPI relating to the average number of days to re-let all housing stock, the council uses a national benchmarking service to compare performance to other authorities. Using this data, the council’s performance has continued to consistently perform in the top quartile for reletting properties. We set ourselves extremely challenging targets, and while in this instance you reference we did not meet our target, we were still top quartile performers. 

“Regarding tenant satisfaction with responsive repairs measures – the repairs service is operated by an external contractor whose staff have not been involved with the four-day week trial. Although the contractor’s performance has been below our KPI target, performance remains in the top quartile nationally.”

Concluding the letter, Cllr Smith agreed to the Secretary of State’s suggestion that they hold a meeting, adding: “Having offered to speak to your Conservative predecessors on numerous occasions I am delighted to have been asked to meet.

“I should point out that it was they who issued the council with a non-statutory Best Value notice and required us to submit about 200 pieces of performance data to them every week for a year. Despite meeting regularly with your officials no concerns were raised about any of the council’s performance throughout that period.”

A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) spokesperson said: “Local authorities are independent employers and we won’t micromanage them - but our focus must be on delivering value for money for taxpayers.

“We are concerned about the impact a four-day working week has had on some local services in South Cambridgeshire and have asked the council to explain how services will be protected for residents.”

Cllr Bridget Smith, Leader of South Cambridgeshire District Council, said: “We are extremely disappointed to receive this letter from the Minister as we are an exceptionally high performing council. Since implementing the four-day week – a working arrangement in which staff do 100% of their work in 32 hours each week – we have delivered an annual saving of almost £400,000, maintained and improved performance, staff turnover has decreased by 41% and the number of applications for roles has surged by 123%.

“Where we previously struggled to recruit and retain expert staff 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.

“The independently assessed data for the trial showed that our performance had either improved or remained the same, bar three areas relating to housing. Independent analysis shows that these were due to factors completely independent of the four-day working week. For example, the cost-of-living crisis. In fact, we are a top performing Council nationally in these areas and our performance is improving further.”

Lottie Winson