South Cambridgeshire councillors are hailing the success of the council's four-day working week trial, despite a backlash from Conservatives.
The trial ran for 15 months from January 2023 to March 2024, and was designed to address "chronic difficulties" in recruiting and retaining staff.
Under the trial, council workers did 100 per cent of their work in 80 per cent of their hours, for 100 per cent of their pay.
Council offices have remained open five days a week, with extended opening hours on Wednesdays, and continue to offer 24/7 coverage for emergencies.
The results of the trial were independently analysed at the universities of Cambridge and Salford, showing that 22 out of 24 key performance indicators were maintained or improved.
These include reductions to the time taken to process benefit changes, household planning applications and the delivery of emergency housing repairs, as well as improvements in staff recruitment and retention and in the wellbeing of council staff.
Councillors welcomed the results of the trial in a meeting on Thursday, July 18.
Liberal Democrat Cllr John Williams, lead cabinet member for resources, said: "All along we have said that if the trial adversely impacted on the quality of services, we would stop it, but this shows that there’s been no reason to do that.
"The trial has shown that we can overcome the recruitment and retention problems that we were facing. It benefits our desk-based staff, and it benefits our manual staff."
Cllr Heather Williams, leader of the council's Conservative group, said that the four-day week turned council offices into a "ghost town".
She said: "Although it’s a four-day week, it may as well be a three-day week.
"Mondays and Fridays are out of bounds for productive work because it’s impossible to know which day off people take for their four-day week.
"This gives councillors three days a week to chase up questions from their residents, who are left to anxiously await a response.
"The Lib Dems have successfully created a council of isolated passing ships. The council was once a constant hive of energy and activity. It is now a greyed out shell of its former vibrant glory.
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"I should stress that this is down to the organisational culture set by the Lib Dem administration – so none of this is the fault of our staff."
The previous Conservative government threatened the council with sanctions and issued a Best Value Notice highlighting their ongoing concerns about the trial.
In light of the new Labour government, the council's administration has written to new minister for housing, communities and local government Jim McMahon, requesting that these objections be formally lifted so they can proceed with the next steps of decision making.
Lib Dem council leader Cllr Bridget Smith added: "I know that I have personally struggled with the amount of revolting vitriol we have been subjected to from the right-wing press and the entirely politically motivated, culture-war attacks and threats from the last government.
"I sincerely hope that now we have a new government this is a situation that we will never ever see again."
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