Councils warned in opposition to adopting four-day week | EUROtoday

Local Government Secretary Steve Reed has written to all council leaders in England warning them to not introduce four-day working weeks.

As reported by the Telegraph, the letter is known to say that “council staff undertaking part-time work for full-time pay without compelling justification would be considered an indicator, among a wide range of factors, of potential failure”.

He added that he hoped he had made the federal government’s coverage “unambiguously clear to all councils”.

A Labour supply stated “Voters deserve high standards and hard work from local councils, and seeing council staff working a four-day week just won’t cut it.”

“They should get on with the job and make sure residents get the best service possible five days a week,” the supply added.

In the letter to the councils, which was reported by The Telegraph, Reed says that native authorities shouldn’t be providing “full-time pay for part-time work”.

Reed beforehand expressed his “deep disappointment” within the first UK council to undertake a four-day working week.

South Cambridgeshire District Council, which is led by the Liberal Democrats, turned the primary to make a everlasting transfer to a four-day week in July after it started trialling a shorter working week in 2023.

Reed stated there had been a decline in efficiency within the council’s housing service and he requested how the native authority would “mitigate” this.

The authorities can intervene in any council whether it is deemed to be failing.

Last yr Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer additionally rejected civil servants’ calls for for a four-day working week.

Critics of a four-day week say it could cut back productiveness and gradual financial development however others disagree.

A trial within the Scottish public sector this yr discovered a rise in productiveness and enhancements in workers well-being.

The Autonomy Institute, which was commissioned by the Scottish authorities to co-ordinate the pilot, discovered that 98% of workers judged morale and motivation to have improved.