Councils should be free to pilot innovative solutions to local challenges, the LGA has said, in response to ministerial demands for a council to abandon its trial of a four-day working week.
Local Government Minister Lee Rowley has written to South Cambridgeshire District Council asking it to “end your experiment immediately” amid concerns about value for money for local taxpayers.
Questioned by delegates at the LGA’s annual conference in July, Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove said a five-day working week “should be what we expect” of people in public service, paid for by taxpayers.
Speaking at a later conference session on workforce capacity challenges, Cllr Bridget Smith, Leader of South Cambridgeshire, said the trial was “not about shutting our offices one day a week – we are open five days a week”.
She said the pilot had already made a difference to long-standing recruitment and retention problems, with the council filling key posts that had been empty for years and saving hundreds of thousands of pounds on its £2 million agency staff bill.
The council has written to Mr Rowley asking for a meeting to discuss his concerns.
Cllr Pete Marland, Chair of the LGA’s Resources Board, said: “More than nine in 10 councils are experiencing staff recruitment and retention difficulties.
“It is councils who know what works best for their community, workforce and in their wider labour market conditions.
“Local voters should be the ones making a judgement on whether local council leaders have made good choices and delivered value for local taxpayers.”
