The Government is set to crack down on four-day weeks as councils have been accused of “wasting taxpayer money”.
Housing Secretary Steve Reed has written to South Cambridgeshire District Council, which became the first local authority to introduce the policy, saying its services have “worsened” since it was put in place.
The four-day week model sees workers at the council receive 100 per cent of their pay for around 85 per cent of their contracted hours.
In a letter seen by the The Telegraph, Mr Reed expressed “deep disappointment” with the authority’s conduct.
He said: “I am therefore seeking assurance about the arrangements your council has in place to consider the impacts of your policy, and that value for money for residents is being delivered.
“In particular, I would like to understand how the council is seeking to mitigate the impact to those services which have worsened over the course of the four-day working week trial.”
He requested council chiefs meet with his officials in the coming weeks.
A Government source told The Telegraph “wasting taxpayer money in this fashion is completely unacceptable”.
Mr Reed claimed services at the council had ‘worsened’ since the four-day week was put in place
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Council leader Bridget Smith said she was “extremely disappointed” to receive the letter, adding the Liberal Democrat-run council is “exceptionally high-performing”.
The local authority officially adopted a four-day week in July after initially running a three-month trial in 2023.
The pilot involved around 450 members of staff.
Before it was made permanent, the council published the findings of an independent analysis which it said showed 21 of 24 services monitored had either maintained of improved since the shorter working week began two years ago.
The council first introduced the shorter working week during a three-month trial in 2023
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It said a number of areas were found to have “significant improvement”, including the percentage of calls answered by the Contact Centre and percentage of complaints responded to on time.
The council also claimed to have seen a 120 per cent increase in the number of applications for jobs at the council.
“Beforehand, only around eight in 10 jobs advertised were filled – sometimes only five out of every 10,” the local authority stated.
“The number of workers leaving fell by more than 40 per cent – helping provide benefits to communities through greater stability of services.”
A spokesman for the council said Ms Smith had agreed to meeting with the Housing Secretary’s officials.
