Residents of South Cambridgeshire will be picking up the bill yet again for the Lib Dem administration’s four-day working week experiment after they voted to provide data to government – without knowing what the cost of that will be.
Earlier this month, the government issued a Best Value Notice to South Cambs District Council following concerns that the Lib Dems’ four days’ work for five days’ pay arrangements were not delivering best value for money to residents.
The government is requesting weekly and retrospective data to monitor the council’s performance.
At an Extraordinary Full Council meeting on Monday – called for by the Conservative group at South Cambs – councillors voted on whether or not the data would be provided to allow the four-day week to continue.
Cllr Bridget Smith, Lib Dem Leader of the Council, described the data request as a “burden on the taxpayer” – a statement that can quite easily be applied to her four-day week experiment, given that residents are paying for workers to have an extra day off every week.
Cllr Brian Milnes, Lib Dem Deputy Leader, said it was “impossible” for the council to collect the requested data within the time constraints.
And yet – despite all this – Lib Dems unanimously voted to provide the data and continue with their four-day week trial.
Cllr Heather Williams, Leader of the Conservative group at South Cambs, said this amounted to signing a “blank cheque” of potentially “unlimited financial cost” – where residents are forced to foot the bill.
Regardless of these concerns, Cllr Smith said she was “perfectly comfortable with the process we [the council] have gone through”, describing it as “right and proper”.
Cllr Heather Williams reacted to the meeting’s events:
“It is completely unacceptable that the Lib Dems have voted to spend unnecessary and unlimited amounts of money in order to keep paying staff five days’ pay for four days’ work.
“There has been no consultation, little debate and yet they are taking one hell of a risk on behalf of residents who have had no say in any of this.
“The meeting last night showed complete contempt for those who disagree with the council wasting money in this way. It showed how little respect there is for hardworking residents who cannot bear to see their hard-earned money being spent in this way.
“So now the council is going to risk and waste more money to keep this social experiment alive – money that could be spent to support residents with the cost of living, tackling fly tipping, or in many other ways that could benefit them.
“I have grave fears of where all of this will end. But there’s one thing that’s certain: taxpayers will pay the price for all of this. That is the true impact of the Lib Dems’ decision last night.”
