Councils are encouraging staff to take a four-day week, it has been revealed. According to the Telegraph, five councils have expressed a desire to take on a four-day week which sees staff work 80% of their usual hours for 100% of their salary.
Last week, Liberal Democrat-run South Cambridgeshire District Council permanently adopted the four-day working pattern affecting bin collections, council tax administration and social housing officials. It has since emerged that councils in Belfast and Fermanagh, Omagh, Glasgow and Edinburgh are now exploring the possibility of following suit. All five councils raised tax on residents last year from between 3% and 8%.
As many as 25 councils are also talking to the Four Day Week Foundation, the campaign pushing for the change.
Elliot Keck, the head of campaigns at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, a group that scrutinises government waste, said: “Millions of local taxpayers still face the looming threat of a part-time council if these radical experiments are allowed to begin.
“Angela Rayner should immediately link central government funding to whether these trials go ahead.
“This would simply involve calculating the budgets of staffing bills at local authorities where the trials are taking place and reducing grants by an amount equal to one fifth of that budget.”
Supporters of the scheme say it does not negatively impact services, with staff expected to meet the same level of output despite typically taking Monday or Friday off but receiving 100% of their existing pay.
Cameron Holloway, leader of Cambridge City Council said he “applauded” South Cambridgeshire’s “innovative and effective approach” after they voted to adopt the four day working week.
He said more than 99% of household bins had been collected on time during the trial phase and that the determination of household panning applications and increased from 75% at the start to around 95% on conclusion.
Critics such as the shadow housing minister Paul Holmes argue that residents are being “short-changed” by the move.
He told the Telegraph: “The residents are being short-changed by these councils.
“Despite paying for full levels of council tax – yet another tax that is rising under this Labour Government – residents are now getting part-time representation, with the councils seemingly more concerned with pursuing these mad ideologies than delivering the services local people need.
“The Conservatives have never tolerated this nonsense and will keep fighting to give the public the representation they deserve.”
During their time in office, the Conservatives had attempted to block councils from introducing four day working weeks but lacked the authority to compel them to oblige.