South Cambridgeshire District Council has voted to make its pioneering four-day working week model a permanent fixture, in a move likely to inspire other public sector workers to push for similar freedoms.
The Lib Dem run authority fell foul of the Sunak administration when it began trialling the model in 2023 in response to recruitment difficulties and staff-wellbeing concerns. As a result, SCDC was subjected to a “Best Value Notice” performance regime at the behest of then-communities secretary Michael Gove.
An independent evaluation of the pilot, conducted by academics from Cambridge University and the University of Salford, found staff turnover dropped by 39% and applications for jobs increased by 53% in the first three months of the trial.
According to the analysis, performance either improved or remained stable in 22 of 24 service areas. The two exceptions were rent collection and the average number of days required to re-let housing stock.
South Cambs said this week that it is saving just under £400,000 a year because of its new-found ability to fill vacancies, with efficiencies mainly due to reduced need for expensive agency workers.
The last Conservative government’s opposition to South Cambridgeshire’s initiative wasn’t limited to the Best Value Notice regime. Gove also issued a general threat to councils considering trialling a four-day working week, warning that they could face “financial levers” at the next local government funding settlement.
Despite the pushback from central government, SCDC continued with its four-day week for staff on a trial basis.
But following last year’s general election, the new Labour Government allowed South Cambridgeshire’s Best Value Notice to lapse and no financial mechanisms to dissuade councils from shifting to a four-day week have been introduced.
On Thursday last week, a full SCDC council meeting voted to adopt the four-day week model permanently. Neighbouring authority Cambridge City Council shares planning and refuse services with South Cambs and is due to vote on the permanent adoption of a four-day-week working in those services later this week. The recommendation is for approval.
SCDC leader Bridget Smith said the council’s trial had shown that “well-rested staff” are highly motivated to deliver the improvements that local government seeks.
“In a modern workplace like ours, where staff feel hugely valued, reducing working hours doesn’t mean compromising on quality,” she said.
“Work is not just sitting at a desk for a set number of hours every week; it’s about what you do, how productive you are and delivering excellent services for communities.
“When planned carefully and with a laser focus on performance, the four-day week helps people focus better and work more efficiently. With the right structure and support, teams can deliver just as much – if not more – while also having more time for their wellbeing and personal lives.”
Smith added that South Cambridgeshire previously had particularly acute recruitment and retention challenges due to the high cost of local housing.
“I strongly believe the four-day week has solved this problem for us,” she said.
The deal for staff at South Cambridgeshire has been a requirement for them to do the same amount of work they would previously have done in five days over the space of four – without working longer hours on those days.
Staff have the option of working Monday to Thursday or Tuesday to Friday, meaning there’s no change to the authority’s overall five-day-week operations.
Officials have so far been discouraged from taking on other paid work on their extra day off.
In recent months there have been growing expressions of interest in four-day week working within the civil service.
Members of the PCS union at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs have put management on notice about the merits of the model.