Further to our recent article on the four-day working week and local authorities, the Government have stated that new legislation may be introduced to prohibit local authorities from allowing staff to go onto a four-day working week arrangement.
Four-Day Working Week: Local Authorities
South Cambridgeshire District Council has been trialing a four-day working week, and that trial was due to end this month. However, last month the Council decided to retain the four-day working week arrangements beyond this month.
Commenting upon the results of the trial, the Leader of the Council, Cllr Bridget Smith, stated: “Our initial three-month trial saw performance generally maintained, and in some cases improved – with not a single area falling to a concerning level. There was strong evidence it was helping us fill hard to recruit posts and improving retention, so we extended the trial to test that over a longer period. Since January, our sickness rates have fallen by a third, staff turnover has reduced by 36%, and complaints about services involved in the trial are down too.“
Reduced Costs
In confirming that the four-day working week arrangements would be retained, the Council stated that "£434,000 less [had been] spent on agency staff covering hard to fill roles".
Government Response
Back in November 2023, the Government issued non-statutory guidance to local authorities who are contemplating adopting a four-day working week arrangement for their staff, stating that the Government does not support the adoption of such working arrangements by local authorities and that "should councils disregard this advice and there is evidence of service decline or failure, DLUHC or another government department may raise concerns directly with the authority, monitor performance more closely and consider options to correct declining performance."
New Legislation
Now, following the decision by South Cambridgeshire District Council to continue with the four-day working week arrangement beyond this month, the Government has stated that it may legislate to prohibit local authorities from allowing staff to be placed onto such arrangements. In an interview with BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, Simon Hoare, the local government minister, stated: "I think it is hugely both disappointing and arrogant that the district council is persisting with this. We still request them to stop and we have said that, in extremis, we will legislate to make sure that this situation cannot continue."
Moreover, Mr Hoare pointed out that a peer review of the Council's four-day working week arrangement conducted by the Local Government Association (LGA) found that staff had been left "feeling drained".
Peer Review
The peer review found that: "Peers heard a consistent message from colleagues who had opted into the four-day working pilot that they were finding it more difficult to manage their time to participate in learning and development activities and other corporate initiatives such as wellbeing events, as their work delivery is being self-prioritised ensuring as many available hours are focused on operational delivery. Despite the operational delivery being prioritised this may have unintended consequences such as the detrimental impact of learning, management of personal wellbeing activities and participation in more corporate engagement."
Council Response
The leader of South Cambridgeshire District Council, Bridget Smith, stated: "Our four-day week trial is about improving the consistency and quality of our services - helping us attract and keep hold of talented staff in a hugely competitive job market. We expected to be able to consult about the four-day week early this year - 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's next steps will be before we can meaningfully consult"
Civil Servants
As we highlighted in a recent article, the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) have delivered a petition on behalf of staff working within the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) for a four-day working week pilot.
No Plans For Pilot
Nevertheless, a representative from Defra stated: “There are no plans for this. Value-for-money should be provided to the taxpayer.“
