Council's four-day week Best Value Notice cancelled

A Best Value Notice issued to South Cambridgeshire District Council by the previous government over its four-day week has expired and will not be renewed.

The Conservative government first issued the Notice in November 2023 and renewed it in May.

The original notice asked the council to prove that it was offering value for money by introducing a four-day week, whereby staff worked 80 per cent of their previous hours but for the same pay.

A report found that it had maintained the same level of its services. The research from the universities of Cambridge and Salford found that the council had improved in 11 areas (out of 24) and staff turnover dropped by 40 per cent. Outcomes dropped in two areas - housing rent collections and meeting a 17-day target to re-let empty council homes - but remained the same elsewhere.

In a letter to Liz Watts, the council's chief executive, Max Soule, deputy director, local government stewardship and intervention at the newly renamed Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government said: "We recognise the council’s constructive engagement with the department throughout the period of the Notices, including your cooperation with the request for data about the impacts of the four-day working week trial.

"As the Deputy Prime Minister set out in her letter to local authority leaders on 16 July and reiterated on 24 October at the Local Government Association conference, this government is committed to working as partners in power, with mutual respect underpinning our approach. This means an end to micromanaging local authorities."