England’s only 4-day week council spent over £2.24 million on agency staff last year, new data has revealed.
Lib Dem-run South Cambridgeshire District Council has been trialling a 4-day working week since January 2023 – with taxpayers being forced to pay council staff 37 hours for just 32 hours work each week.
The results of the 4-day week trial were scrutinised by the council’s Scrutiny and Overview Committee on Monday night, with councillors set to decide on Thursday whether the council should become a permanent 4-day week employer.
However, new data has revealed that the council’s spend on agency staff actually increased during the 4-day week trial – despite claims from the Lib Dem administration that the council has saved £320,520 on agency staff thanks to the trial.
Cllr Graham Cone, Chair of the Scrutiny and Overview Committee, asked the Lib Dem Cabinet if the council still had to employ agency staff during the 4-day week trial, to which Cllr John Williams, Lead Cabinet Member for Resources, replied “Yes, we do use agency staff”.
Following on from this question, new data has now revealed that the council spent almost £7.2 million in agency staff over the whole duration of the trial, with a whopping £2.5 million spent in 2023/24.
This revelation places a huge question mark over the administration’s claims to have saved over £320,000 on agency staff.
