Ministers have ordered a local council to scrap its experiment with a four-day working week. South Cambridgeshire District Council had announced plans to extend its trial until next April, but ministers have told officials to end it now.
It was first local authority in the UK to undertake such a trial with about 450 desk-based staff working reduced hours. Local government minister Lee Rowley wrote to Liberal Democrat council leader Bridget Smith to 'ask that you end your experiment immediately' and say he had concerns about the 'value for money' for local taxpayers.
A study had shown the trial may have saved the council around £330,000 by filling vacancies which were previously plugged by agency staff, while resulting in no drop in performance. There has been growing interest in four-day week experiments in the UK and globally, with some businesses praising the shift to a shorter working week. But Mr Rowley, in a letter dated June 30, said such a model is inappropriate for local authorities.
