Government drops official concerns about council’s four-day week

The Government has dropped official concerns about a council’s four-day week, as it has not reissued a notice which declared disapproval over the policy.

South Cambridgeshire District Council introduced a four-day week in 2023 and faced opposition from the previous Conservative government over the change.

The policy continued past the end of its trial period in March this year as the council awaited information from ministers.

It comes as London’s transport authority is understood to be working on a proposal looking at changing working patterns for tube drivers.

A letter from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to the Cambridgeshire authority on Friday said that councils are “rightly responsible for the management and organisation of their own workforces”.

Conservative ministers had issued the authority near Cambridge with a series of Best Value Notices throughout 2023 and 2024, which contained formal concerns, including that “the working arrangements chosen by the authority could impact on the delivery of its Best Value Duty” and that “the removal of up to a fifth of the capacity of the authority means that it is unlikely in aggregate for it to be able to support continuous improvement”.

The letter from the deputy director in charge of local government stewardship, Max Soule, states: “Although it it not government policy to support a general move to a four-day working week for five days worth of pay, we recognise that local authorities are independent employers who are rightly responsible for the management and organisation of their own workforces.”

It adds: “With this in mind, the Notice will not be reissued.”

The leader of the council, Councillor Bridget Smith, has said that over the last year the council submitted “around 200 pieces of raw data to the Government every single week” in response to the notice, but “disappointingly at no point were we given any feedback on the data”.

Ms Smith said in a statement: “The results from our four-day week trial painted a really positive picture, with many of our services improving. This was along with the hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayer money we saved, improved recruitment and retention plus incredibly significant positives around health and wellbeing.”

According to the council, staff are expected to carry out 100% of their work, in around 80% of their contracted hours, for 100% of their pay, and council opening hours remain the same as before the scheme.

Last month, Angela Rayner told the Commons that a four-day working week is “no threat to the economy”.

Addressing a question from then-shadow local government secretary Kemi Badenoch about whether a four-day week for councils was “unacceptable”, the Deputy Prime Minister said: “We don’t dictate to councils how they run their services.

“We work with councils and I think (Ms Badenoch) should be able to work out that flexible working is no threat to business, no threat to the economy, in fact, it would boost productivity.”

It comes as tube drivers could see a change in their working week under plans to be put forward by Transport for London (TfL).

TfL has told the Aslef union it will set out an initial proposal on an average four-day working week in January, it is understood. The body has said there will be no reduction in contractual hours.

A letter dated November 5 and seen by the BBC reads that TfL will set out a “proposal for delivering an average four-day working week” by January.

A TfL spokesperson said: “Discussions are ongoing and there will be no reduction in contractual hours.

“As with any proposal, there are still details that need to be worked through and any changes would need to be mutually beneficial, preserving or improving the reliability of our service for our customers and improving efficiency.

“We will continue discussions with our unions.”