Four-day week trial extended at South Cambridgeshire District Council amid controversy over chief executive’s PhD

A trial of a four-day working week at South Cambridgeshire District Council has been extended by 12 months amid controversy.

The authority agreed to extend the trial until the end of March 2024 at a cabinet meeting.

The trial, which involves around 450 desk-based staff, was extended after data showed the initial pilot was a success.

But it has also been criticised by some who have questioned the accuracy of the performance data and argue the trial will impact the council’s performance.

South Cambridgeshire’s Tory MP Anthony Browne has also raised concerns after the admission that the trial was run to benefit the chief executive’s PhD on the subject of four-day weeks.

Council leader Cllr Bridget Smith (Lib Dem, Gamlingay) said: “The data from our trial, which has been robustly analysed by a highly qualified team at the University of Cambridge, has shown that our services to residents and businesses have been maintained – or in some cases, improved, and there has been a positive impact on staff wellbeing. We can therefore confidently say that this pioneering trial has been a success.”

The trial was set up by the council to see if it would help with staff recruitment, and help encourage existing staff to stay. It was the first local authority in the country to trial this way of working.

Monthly data released by the council showed that £918,842 was spent on agency staff in the three months before the launch of the trial.

In the first three months of the trial – January to March – the authority spent £744,985 on agency staff.

A report on the performance of the authority over the first three months of the trial was put together by the University of Cambridge and the Bennett Institute for Public Policy.

They analysed data from 18 different key areas, covering performance in planning, housing, transformation, human resources and corporate services and finance. It found nine out of the 16 areas monitored show substantial improvement when comparing the trial period from January to March to the same period in 2022.

The remaining seven areas monitored either remain at similar levels compared to the same period last year or saw a slight decline.

Cllr Heather Williams, leader of the Conservative group, questioned whether the performance data was accurate.

She highlighted that some staff had reported that they were working over their hours, and said the council was still employing agency staff who worked five days a week.

Cllr Williams (Con, The Mordens) said: “How can our performance statistics be accurate when we do not have everybody working a four-day week?”

Cllr Smith said the three-month trial was not enough time to “iron out all the problems”.

She added some staff still liked working five days, she said others who struggled to fit their work into four days needed more help to adapt.

The council has also faced national scrutiny after it was revealed its chief executive Liz Watts was undertaking a “secret PhD” looking at four-day workin week.

Cllr Smith said on Monday that Ms Watts was paying for the studies herself, and was working on the PhD in her own time. She said it was “perfectly normal” for council staff to do academic work based on what they do within the authority.

Cllr Smith said: “Just to be perfectly clear, our chief executive’s studies were never dependent on the council trialling a four-day week.

“We have a very well respected, quite hig- profile chief executive, very well connected to other councils, quite a few of whom I gather would have bitten her hand off to run a trial in their own organisation.

“Fortunately, we got in there first, because we understood how much we stood to benefit from it. We had the only expert in fourday weeks in the public sector running our own organisation, so why would we not do that. We welcome the insight and expertise with open arms.”

Cllr Smith said Ms Watts had always been transparent and that, with hindsight, her work should have been mentioned in the original report on the matter. Cllr Smith’s statement that other authorities would have “bitten Ms Watt’s hand off” to run a trial elsewhere was challenged by Cllr Richard Williams (Con, Whittlesford).

He said the comments raised serious and “legitimate political questions” around what the motivation was for the trial.

Cllr Smith repeated that the trial was launched to see if it would help improve staff recruitment and retention. She said “everything else had failed” and the trial was a way to see if the council could “level the playing field” with private businesses.

Following the decision, Mr Browne hit out at the authority for using residents as guinea pigs.

“It is not a council’s job to make vast policy changes ‘for’ the chief executive’s PhD thesis, but for the benefit of residents,” he stormed.

The Tory MP continued: “Instead, no-one is benefitting from this PhD booster trial. I’ve heard reports of council staff having to work five days to complete their tasks and feeling both stressed and resentful as a result.

“The data shows services are slipping, taking the council far longer to do simple tasks like answer the phone or handle benefit claims. Instead of following evidence-based policy making, but the Lib Dems are doing policy-based evidence making – and it’s the residents will suffer for it.”

Before the trial started, the council was spending about £2million a year on agency staff, often in specialist roles where the private sector pays more.

Although the three-month trial wasn’t expected to see improvement in recruitment, the council’s annual wage bill has decreased by £300,000.

The council had already pledged to investigate expanding the trial to its bin crews, which are part of the Greater Cambridge Shared Waste service with Cambridge City Council.

Cabinet members on Monday also agreed to begin that trial for bin crews this summer – pending agreement from Cambridge City Council.

The city council has already agreed to support the four-day trial for desk-based staff.

Following that decision, city council leader Cllr Mike Davey said: “We’re really happy to be involved in this trial, to see how a four-day week works in practice in a council setting and the positive impact this could have on staff wellbeing and retention, along with associated savings if fewer agency staff are needed.

“I was pleased that there was unanimous support at our strategy and resources scrutiny committee on Thursday for South Cambs to extend the initial three-month for desk-based colleagues – which includes staff in our shared planning service – for another year. We look forward to considering the initial trial for the shared waste service when it comes to our scrutiny committee in early July, and making a decision then.”