South Cambridgeshire District Council (SCDC) broke new ground this year, as the local authority approved plans to move forwards into a permanent four day work week, following a successful year-long trial period.
The idea of a four day work-week has been discussed and at time adopted world wide with more frequency, as trials around the globe have in many cases found that 100% of employees’ workload can be completed in 80% of time, with many trials finding employees acted with higher productivity and motivation.
SCDC came to the same conclusion earlier this year, and in July voted to move ahead with the four-day week permanently. However, not all metrics found an improvement, and some of the key areas which suffered under the pilot were key housing performance indicators, including rent collection, reletting times and tenant satisfaction with repairs.
The Local Government Secretary Steve Reed has now requested a meeting with Cllr Smith in order to discuss how they intend to tackle these dips in performance. In a statement, she said: ‘The independently assessed data for the trial showed that all key performance indicators had either improved or remained the same, bar three relating to housing.
‘Independent analysis shows that these three isolated indicators were due to factors completely independent of the four-day working week and we are, in fact, in the top quartile nationally and performance is improving further.’
Despite Reed seeking to crack down on this development, the government itself has no power to restrict the Council’s judgement over it’s own working hours, and Reed’s disapproval will carry no final weight over SCDC’s decision making.
A government source told the Guardian: “We trust councils to run their own affairs in the best interest of their constituents, but we reserve the right to call out behaviour that lets down voters. They deserve more.”
The SCDC’s trial did show success in all but a few key areas, and if this pattern continues it is a format we could see trialed and possibly adopted by other authorities around the country. Reed’s disapproval and possible aim to clamp down on the adjustment could set the scene for a clash of heads between the central government and a more traditional view, with the SCDC’s progressive approach to the modern work life.
