Conservatives criticised over four-day week opposition

Councillor Bridget Smith (Liberal Democrat) said she was pleased the formal notice of concerns had not been reissued by the new Labour government.

Cllr Bridget Smith (Image: SCDC) However, the leadership has still faced backlash from opposition councillors over the trial, who argued there was "palpable anger" from people in the area about the four-day week.

The district council introduced the four-day week trial for desk-based staff at the start of 2023, before later expanding it to include staff working in the waste collection service.

Under the trial staff receive full pay for working fewer hours, but are expected to complete all of their work in that time.

The authority began the trial to see if it would help with staff recruitment and retention problems it was facing.

The leadership at the district council has faced repeated backlash over the trial, including from the former Conservative government who called for the trial to end.

The previous government issued Best Value Notices to the district council, formally highlighting concerns about the four-day week trial and its impact on the authority’s performance.

However, earlier this month the current Labour government announced it would not be reissuing the Best Value Notice.

While not offering outright support for a four-day working week, the government said it would ‘end micromanaging’.

At a full council meeting on November 28, Cllr Smith said she was pleased with the government’s decision not to reissue the notice.

Cllr Smith said she never was able to meet with the previous Conservative ministers to discuss their concerns, despite asking multiple times.

Cllr Smith added that the authority also never received any information from the former government on how it analysed the “vast amounts of data” the district council had been required to provide.

She said: “Looking back, the Best Value Notice seems to be reactionary, politically motivated, a fruitless attempt to stoke up a culture war, and we are still here and the last government is not.

“I hope that moving forward politics will be taken out of this, because at the end of the day it is operational, this is about finding ways of delivering the very best services possible to our residents.

“The fact that we have a happy, healthy, well motivated, highly productive staff is what we should all be aspiring to.”

‘Serious and legitimate concerns about the four-day week trial’

However, concerns about the four-day week trial were still shared by opposition councillors at the district council.

Councillor Daniel Lentell (Independent) put forward a motion raising concerns that people in the district were not getting value for money by staff receiving full-time pay, but potentially using their non-working day to work somewhere else.

He also raised concerns that council staff working elsewhere could potentially create a conflict of interest and called for “clear guidelines” to be established to prohibit this.

Cllr Lentell also said staff needed to be prevented from “offering or selling their professional services back to the council”.

He said: “Ultimately what this motion is about is installing a common sense safeguard, a guardrail.

“We cannot have a situation where we have any sense that staff are selling back their services to this council on their fifth day.

“This has not been included in any discussions I have seen, or any of the papers I have seen.”

Councillor Dr Richard Williams (Conservative) seconded the motion as he said it “raises issues that are fundamental to public trust”.

Cllr Williams said there was “palpable anger” from people in the district about the four-day week trial.

He also said it was “disrespectful” that councillors as elected representatives of the public had not been given an opportunity to have a full council vote on the trial.

Cllr Williams said there were “serious and legitimate concerns” about the way the non-working day was being used by staff, and said it was “vital for the council to restore as much public trust as possible” and support the measures in the motion.

Councillor John Williams (Liberal Democrat) said all staff employment contracts already required them to report any second jobs to the HR team to ensure there were no conflicts of interest.

Cllr John Williams (Image: SCDC) He also said any second jobs were only agreed if they complied with legislation and did not present a conflict of interest.

Cllr Williams said: “Clear guidelines on second jobs and the four-day week trial already exist, colleagues are told that they may not take on external paid work during their regular working hours on their four-day week trial non-working day.”

He claimed that no one had started a new second job on their non-working day during the trial.

Cllr Williams recognised that a survey had shown an increase in the number of staff reporting that they were working on their non-working day, but said an investigation into this had found staff were reporting jobs they had prior to the trial, such as evening cleaning jobs.

READ MORE

• Route between Melbourn and Meldreth station receives 'welcome upgrade'

However, Councillor Heather Williams (Conservative) said she found it hard to believe not a single member of staff had not started a second job since the trial started, due to the level of staff who had reported having one.

Cllr Heather Williams (Image: SCDC) She added that if the measures requested in the motion were happening anyway as claimed, then she asked “what is the harm in giving reassurance” to councillors by supporting the motion.

The monitoring officer told the meeting that as the motion ‘sought to determine an executive function’ it could only be voted on by cabinet.

No full council vote was therefore taken on the motion and it will be sent to cabinet to decide on.