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The town run on a four-day working week

Staff at South Cambridgeshire District Council have been working four days a week for the same pay since 2023

People living in the UK’s first local authority to adopt a four-day working week may face out-of-office email responses to concerns about fly-tipping – but at least the bins are still being collected.

Political opponents of South Cambridgeshire District Council’s (SCDC) workplace policy have branded it “insulting” to taxpayers and claim staff are being used as “guinea pigs” to test it out.

The scheme, which has been running for two years, sees some council employees do 100 per cent of their work in around 80 per cent of their hours for the same pay.

Some of those living in the district believe the policy is unfair and discriminates against workers in other sectors, questioning the benefit to taxpayers.

But an independent report into SCDC’s model found productivity has improved – or remained at the same level – in all but two areas since staff cut down their working days, with the council this week opening a consultation to hear residents’ opinions.

People were broadly positive about the idea of a boost to the work-life balance when The i Paper visited the town of Cambourne this week – and the majority echoed the same sentiment; if it hasn’t affected local services they “can’t see an argument against it”.

Peter Allerton and his Jack Russell, Rascal. He has not noticed any change since the four-day week scheme came into effect (Photo: Joe Duggan)

Campaign group the 4 Day Week Foundation – which set up the trial in Cambridgeshire – said they are in talks with around half a dozen more councils looking to run their own trials this year.

The Government has vowed to work with town halls as part of a devolution revolution, after it recently dropped its opposition to the scheme, with Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner saying a four-day week is “no threat to the economy”.

This was in contrast to the previous Conservative government’s view, which described it as “part-time work for full-time pay”.

Peter Allerton, 71, a retired commercial technician who lives in the village of Comberton, said SCDC’s trial has “been a success in one way, because we don’t really notice a difference”.

Mature student Jane Barker, 52, said: “I think if the work’s being done and if it makes people happier then it doesn’t really worry me.

“As long as it’s not affecting the service. It’s the bin collections – if that’s happening regularly, and people are doing their jobs, then that’s really fine by me.”

Bridget Smith, leader of the Lib Dem council, said it had adopted the model amid a recruitment crisis which saw the private sector able to offer much higher salaries for jobs like planners or HGV drivers.

Meetings were now shorter as the local authority is focused on making “every minute count”, she said.

“It’s working at a level of intensity that would not be sustainable over five days, because you would just simply burn out,” Ms Smith said.

“You’re not planning your shopping list or nipping off to a dentist. When you are at work, you are at work and you are working absolutely intensively.”

Call answering times had fallen while there had been a significant increase in the speed of emergency repairs, she said.

But Heather Williams, a Conservative councillor and leader of the Tory opposition at SCDC, criticised the lack of a consultation prior to the trial and claimed only a handful of Cabinet councillors voted on adopting it.

Ms Smith said it would have been “nonsense” to run a consultation before launching a trial.

Cllr Dan Lentell believes the four-day week scheme run by South Camridgesire District Council is ‘massively unfair’ (Photo: Supplied)

“I think the scheme as a whole has been really insulting to hardworking residents that are paying their taxes,” Ms Williams said.

“I’ve had residents get in touch struggling in relation to fly-tipping reporting. I’ve had it in relation to housing queries.

“It’s not the officers of the council who have chosen to do this. It’s a political decision that’s been taken, and they have been used as human guinea pigs.”

An independent report showed the trial had led to staff turnover dropping by 39 per cent, helping save £371,500 in a year, mostly on agency staff costs.

About 15 per cent more major planning application decisions were completed within the correct timescale, the study of 450 desk staff and refuse collectors found.

Processing times to changes for housing and council tax benefit claims fell., according to the findings by University of Cambridge and University of Salford academics.

Sally Titmuss, 70,a retired teacher, said she has not noticed any difference to local services since the four-day week was brought in (Photo: Supplied)

But independent councillor Dan Lentell claimed the four-day week meant that taxpayers were effectively “subsidising” council staff.

He is in favour of the four-day week principle, he said, but feels the Cambridgeshire scheme is “massively unfair”.

“Every single time I need a question answered by the council, you get an inbox absolutely full of out of office emails. Are we getting value for money? Clearly not,” he said.

A survey found 16 per cent of staff in the scheme had a second job, but the council said most of these were in waste services and already had them before the trial began.

“How does it benefit the residents of Over and Willingham to be paying staff five days a week, and for 16 per cent of them to be saying, ‘we’re using that fifth day to get another job’,” Mr Lentell said.

Whatever their views on the principle of the scheme, most residents in Cambourne – the district’s largest town – said they hadn’t noticed any deterioration in their council services since the trial was introduced in January 2023.

Ian Rhodes-Elson, 57, a chartered surveyor who lives in neighbouring Huntingdon, said: “I don’t have any issue with it. If it provides a better work-life balance and staff are as productive as they were previously I can’t really see any harm.”

Ian Rhodes-Elson is in favour of the four-day week scheme (Photo: Joe Duggan)

Sally Titmuss, 70,a retired teacher, said: “The only thing that seems to be actually an advantage is the rubbish collection has been a four day week as well.

“Other than that I can’t say I’ve noticed any difference.”

She added that council staff doing second jobs would not worry her, but added: “Are they not being paid enough in the first place if they need to have another job?”

But Christine, 70, said: “I used to work for the NHS – We did four 12-hour shifts. We wouldn’t get paid for an extra day off.”

Rhea Bolton, 37, a housewife, said: “I think if everyone else has to work five days, council services and government services should as well.

“I don’t think it works. I think it would harm the country.”

Christine Lewis questioned if people would wonder if the scheme was fair (Photo: Joe Duggan)

Christine Lewis, 74, a retired restaurateur, hasn’t noticed any difference and said of the scheme: “It’s been ok, but the ordinary guy on the street, say who works in a restaurant, is not going to be able to do that. People are going to start saying, is that fair?”

More than 200 UK companies employing 5,000 workers have moved to a four-day week model, 5000 workers, include charities, marketing, IT, consulting, PR and tech firms, according to the 4 Day Week Foundation.

Joe Ryle, the foundation’s campaign director, said: “You do just tend to be more efficient as a worker in four days rather than five, because you lose that time where there is lots of presenteeism, which is quite common in the British economy,” he said.

“We’ve never said a four-day working week can come in overnight for everyone. It’s going to be a long transition to get there.

“It does look like that’s the future of work we’re headed for.”



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