Lib Dem council ‘defies government order to scrap four-day week’

The first British council to introduce a four-day week has pushed ahead with the scheme despite a Government order to “immediately” stop, according to a report.

A trial for the scheme is ongoing in South Cambridgeshire District Council despite local government minister Lee Rowley ordering officials not to proceed.

In a letter sent to the council on June 30, seen by the Telegraph, Mr Rowley said he “expected to see a return “to established norms around local government workforce capacity in the coming weeks ahead”.

It is the first local authority in the UK to undertake such a trial, arguing that the policy could help fill vacant posts and “improve the health and wellbeing of colleagues”. Staff are paid full-salaries but have one extra day off.

In May, the council voted to extend the trial by a further 12 months into 2024.

Council leader Bridget Smith told the newspaper that she had not received a reply to a letter sent to Mr Rowley requesting a meeting to defend the proposals.

A spokesperson for the council confirmed that the trial was still in place.

Anthony Browne, the MP for South Cambridgeshire, accused the council of “embarking on an ideological crusade on the four-day week”.

He told the newspaper: “It’s clear from the data that it’s leading to worse services and they’re ignoring the clear wishes of not just Cambridgeshire residents, who are outraged by this, but also the national government.”

Cllr Smith said the council had already “seen strong independently-assessed evidence which showed that performance was maintained, and in some cases improved, in the first three months” during the trial.

The Standard has contacted the council and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities for comment.

Earlier this month, Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove said he is a “strong believer” that council staff should work a “full five-day week” after Mr Rowley contacted the council.

Taking questions after a speech at the Local Government Association (LGA) conference in Bournemouth, Mr Gove said: “The key thing is that I believe very strongly, as indeed does the minister for local government, that when taxpayers are paying for services, they need to have people working a full five-day week.

“It seems to me that for every penny that is paid in council tax, we deserve, all of us, to see those working in local government working what is a full working week for those who are council taxpayers as well.”

Mr Gove said councils would have different ways of managing and motivating staff but that should not come in the form of a truncated working week.