A report into South Cambridgeshire District Council’s four-day week trial has found most of the monitored services either improved or were maintained.

The trial requires council staff to carry out 100% of their work, in 80% of their contracted hours without a reduction in their pay.

Carried out by the Universities of Salford, Bradford and Cambridge, the analysis revealed that 21 of 24 services have improved or stayed the same since the four-day week was introduced in 2023.

Those areas which saw a significant improvement include:

• the percentage of calls answered by the Contact Centre

• the average number of days taken to update Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support claims

• the average number of weeks for householder planning applications to be decided

• the percentage of planning applications (both large and small) decided within target or agreed timescales

• the percentage of Council house repairs complete within 24 hours

• the percentage of complaints responded to on time.

Recruitment and Retention

The report also found that the number of applications for jobs rose by more than 120% and the number of workers leaving fell by more than 40%. According to the council, it no longer has to rely on agency workers which has resulted in a yearly saving of nearly £400,000.

The leader of South Cambridgeshire DC, Cllr Bridget Smith, said: ‘We started this innovative trial due to significant recruitment and retention challenges. These were particularly acute for us, having to compete with higher private sector pay in an area of high employment and housing costs. There is now more consistency through lower staff turnover and improved health and wellbeing’.

Cllr Cameron Holloway, leader of Cambridge City Council, commented: ‘We have always said that what’s most important for us is the standard of service that Cambridge residents receive through our shared waste and planning services.

‘Throughout the trial, these services have been delivered to a consistently high standard. Over 99% of household bins are collected on time, and the percentage of household planning applications being determined on time has increased from 75% at the start of the trial to around 95% at the end, which is no small achievement.’

Residents’ Experience

An analysis of a public consultation run earlier this year on the four-day week trial found a mixed response from residents.

Undertaken by the market research company DJS Research, it found that people felt there had been no statistically significant difference in their experience of nine services, while there was a perceived decrease in three services.

It also found that 45% of residents supported the four-day week.

Cllr Smith commented: ‘The results from our comprehensive stakeholder consultation this year – which measured the perception of our performance – shows many services had no statistically significant change. This is noteworthy - at a time when Local Government Association surveys show satisfaction with councils nationally is falling.’

Criticism:

Cllr Heather Williams, leader of the Conservative opposition at South Cambridgeshire District Council commented: ‘We’ve only had sight of the report for 20 minutes and there’s a lot to go through, but we will fully scrutinise every word on every page because what residents say to us matters – and we will serve residents. We will stand up for our residents.

‘So, to anybody in the Liberal Democrat group who is planning to vote on making this permanent, I remind and warn them now – they are elected by residents, it is them they serve, and they ignore their residents at their peril.’

To read more about the council's four-day week experiment, check out Four-day working win by Cllr Bridget Smith, leader of South Cambridgeshire District Council.