England’s only 4-day week council is a sick council, new reports show.
Tonight councillors at Lib Dem-run South Cambridgeshire District Council will be discussing a report which shows sickness at the 4-day week council are in the red.
According to the report, the council’s waste collection service lost 585 days to sickness absence between September and December 2024 – the equivalent of almost 50 sickness absences per week.
Council staff in South Cambridgeshire have been paid not to work for over two years – currently receiving 37 hours pay for 32 hours work per week.
Conservative councillors have consistently raised concerns about wasting taxpayers money on the 5 days’ pay for 4 days’ work experiment, including the strain on staff – with almost 1 in 3 reporting being more stressed in the council’s 2024 wellbeing survey.
Cllr Heather Williams, Leader of the Conservative Opposition at South Cambridgeshire District Council, reacted to this worrying news:
“The report that will be discussed tonight is really concerning. One of the first things that we raised right at the start of this was burnout. We have to remember the strain that council staff are being put under by the political decisions of the Lib Dems in charge. This is what happens when you use human beings as guinea pigs, without preparing and without planning properly.
“The only way the 4-day week could have worked was if people were genuinely wasting 20% of their time previously. With the waste service, the extra demand and strain on people’s bodies, walking several extra miles per day, is something that should never be underestimated.
“For the sake of taxpayers and the long-term health of council staff, everybody please take part in the consultation and say NO to the 4-day week. Say NO to paying people not to work. And say NO to increased stress and increased pain.”
