Councilors at South Cambridgeshire District Council will vote later this month on whether to pilot a shortened week at the same pay for 470 office workers, before potentially rolling it out to bin collectors. Workers at the authority – which operates in an area of more than 100 villages circling Cambridge – were informed of the trial on Friday. Workers who process benefit claims, collect council rents, process planning applications and carry out environmental health inspections will work 30-hour weeks for the first three months of 2023. Service performance will be monitored and the council said the trial would only be made permanent if there has been no fall in standards and there has been an improvement in staff welfare. Waste collectors were left out of the initial trial due to the difficulty of emptying the same amount of bins in 20% less time without adding staff. They may be included later next year. The move to follow dozens of private companies trying to cut the week has been prompted in part by a recruitment crisis hitting councils across the country, with years of relatively low pay in local government putting off applicants. Between January and March, only around half of South Cambridgeshire’s vacancies were filled. More than half of councils in England and Wales say they have insufficient staff to run all services properly, according to the Local Government Association. In July, the agency’s head of workforce, Naomi Cooke, said: “We are the lowest paid part of the public sector – I’m not suggesting we start saying that in job adverts, but it’s true.” Bridget Smith, the leader of South Cambridgeshire District Council, said: “It could be a real breakthrough for local councils nationally. We only filled half of our vacancies in the first few months of this year and using temporary office staff in these office roles costs us more than £2m a year. We know that if we were to call these roles permanently instead, it would only cost around £1 million a year. As we seek solutions to these issues, these proposals suggest a robust, evidence-based trial over three months. Of course, it has to be a test that works for our residents and businesses as well.” Joe Ryle, director of the 4 Day Week campaign, said: “This move could benefit thousands of workers, improve productivity and help tackle the local government recruitment crisis. We hope that this trial, if approved, will result in many more councils across the country embracing the four-day week.” Last week, Atom Bank, which ran one of the UK’s biggest four-day weekly trials to date, said it was continuing with the operating model. It reported a 49% increase in applications for roles, an increase in the measure of “customer goodwill” which suggests service levels have risen slightly and an increase in staff engagement. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Seventy other companies – from brewers to software designers – began a six-month trial in June, although there have been reports of some struggling to adapt. There are also concerns that gains in well-being made as workers use their extra day off for leisure, to care for loved ones or to rest may be wiped out when they start to take it for granted. Government-backed four-day week trials are also due to start later this year in Spain and Scotland.
