A local authority that permanently adopted a four-day working week has been warned by government ministers that the scheme may be undermining vital public services.
The leader of South Cambridgeshire District Council has been asked to meet with officials from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities after concerns were raised about deteriorating performance in housing-related services since the working pattern was introduced.
The local authority became the first in the country to move to a four-day week on a permanent basis earlier this year. Under the arrangement, staff including bin collectors and housing officers receive full-time pay while working around 80 percent of their contracted hours.
According to a letter sent by Communities Secretary Steve Reed, the policy has coincided with reduced service levels in areas such as rent collection and housing repairs. Excerpts from the letter were obtained by The Telegraph, which reported that Mr Reed expressed “deep disappointment” with the council’s conduct and said taxpayers deserved the “respect of a five-day week”.
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The letter cited an independent study that found key housing services had declined. It noted a drop in rent collection, longer delays in re-letting properties and lower tenant satisfaction with repairs, especially in cases affecting vulnerable residents.
Mr Reed wrote that the findings were particularly concerning if newly built social housing remained unoccupied due to delays. He said he expected the council to provide assurances on how it was measuring value for money and mitigating any negative effects. He also requested a meeting with council leaders in the coming weeks.
Staff performance ‘improved’
South Cambridgeshire has defended its position, with the council leader saying that overall performance had improved and the trial had delivered both financial and recruitment benefits. In a statement quoted by The Telegraph, Bridget Smith said the four-day week had saved nearly £400,000 annually, reduced staff turnover by 41 percent and increased job applications by 123 percent.
“Since implementing the four-day week – a working arrangement in which colleagues do 100 percent of their work in 32 hours each week – we have delivered an annual saving of almost £400,000, maintained and improved performance, our turnover has decreased by 41 percent and the number of applications for roles advertised has surged by 123 percent,” she said.
She added that the planning department, which previously struggled to recruit staff, was now fully staffed and delivering the council’s most ambitious local plan to date. She said independent analysis showed the three underperforming housing indicators were linked to issues unrelated to the working week and that overall the council was in the top quartile nationally.
South Cambridgeshire confirmed that it would meet with officials as requested.
Study findings mixed
The research referred to in Mr Reed’s letter was carried out by the Universities of Salford, Bradford and Cambridge, and examined the impact of the four-day working week when it was being trialled. The study found that 21 of 24 council services either improved or remained stable during the trial.
But a separate resident satisfaction survey covering 13 service areas found that nine had worsened, four remained the same and none improved. The apparent discrepancy between internal performance metrics and resident perceptions has fuelled debate over the effectiveness of the policy.
Twenty-five other councils are reportedly considering similar changes, prompting concerns that the model could spread across the public sector without clear evidence of its benefits.
‘Not acceptable’
Mr Reed’s intervention marks a move away from the approach taken by his predecessor, Angela Rayner, who had not supported the four-day week but declined to intervene directly when she held the brief. Although the government currently lacks the legal authority to stop councils from adopting the model, ministers are applying public pressure to discourage further expansion.
A source in the Communities Department told The Telegraph that councils would not be micromanaged, but that “wasting taxpayer money in this fashion is completely unacceptable”.
The issue has sparked political division, with the opposition Conservative Party accusing Labour of inconsistency. It noted that while the government was criticising the council’s four-day policy, it was also advancing employment legislation that would expand workers’ rights to request home working from day one.
Sir James Cleverly, Conservative shadow communities secretary, said the government’s stance on flexible work undermined its credibility. “Labour have reversed our work to get civil servants back into the office, and their Unemployment Bill will make working from home more widespread,” he said. “Labour are not serious about making sure the public sector is accountable and delivers value for taxpayers.”
He added that South Cambridgeshire might be the first council to adopt a four-day week permanently, “but with Labour in charge, it won’t be the last”.
Campaigners call for further action
The TaxPayers’ Alliance, which has been campaigning against four-day working week schemes in local government, said the model had led to a decline in services and a lack of accountability. “South Cambridgeshire district council has inflicted a part-time council on its residents for years,” its campaigns director, Elliot Keck, said. “It has led to a decline in services and a shocking democratic deficit, with councillors only voting on the scheme after years.”
He said Mr Reed was right to intervene and should not rule out further steps to rein in what he called a “rogue local authority”.
While South Cambridgeshire maintains that the scheme has improved performance and saved money, the disagreement over how results are measured is likely to intensify scrutiny of any councils considering similar trials.
