Government issues council with best value notice over four-day week

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has issued South Cambridgeshire District Council with a best value notice after expressing concerns about the local authority’s trial of a four-day working week.

In September, the council announced that its trial of a four-day working week would continue, despite receiving a formal request from Local Government Minister Lee Rowley to end it.

Rowley argued that such an approach could impact the council's ‘Best Value Duty’ under the Local Government Act 1989.

Queries raised included the council’s “missed target” to re-let housing stock on every month of the trial, a reduction in the number of calls answered by the contact centre, and the number, when answered, that were resolved first time.

DLUHC revealed in its best value notice today (3 November) that if South Cambridgeshire “chooses to continue with this trial following receipt of this letter, the Department is now formally requesting additional detail on its impact, both on individual employee productivity, the Council and the provision of services as a whole.”

The Government noted that a data form would be sent to the council, to be “completed and returned on a weekly basis starting one week from its receipt.”

The form will seek data on staffing, costs, service delivery, performance against a range of relevant KPIs [key performance indicators], and resident feedback.

The notice will remain in place for six months, to cover the remainder of the council’s current trial.

“After this time, should the department deem it necessary to continue to seek assurance through such a Notice, the Notice will be reissued”, the DLUHC warned.

The Department acknowledged that the notice was being issued outside the statutory powers held by the Secretary of State under the Local Government Act 1999 to inspect or intervene in local authorities where there is evidence of Best Value failure and, separately, under section 230 of the Local Government Act 1972 to request information from local authorities.

"However, a failure to demonstrate continuous improvement may be judged to contribute to Best Value failure and the Secretary of State will consider using these powers as appropriate," it said.

Last week DLUHC issued non-statutory guidance calling on councils undertaking four-day working weeks to "cease immediately".

A South Cambridgeshire District Council spokesperson said: “We have received the notice from Government, and it will be considered."

South Cambridgeshire Lib Dems meanwhile accused the Government of “putting politics before progress” after issuing the best value notice.

They pointed to published data which they claimed shows that since the trial started in January 2023 the council expects “to slash its agency cost for temporary workers who were needed to cover permanent roles that the council could not previously fill - many of which are in planning where there is a national shortage”.

South Cambridgeshire Lib Dems also suggested that the University of Cambridge had found no areas of significant concern when independently assessing the initial three month trial.

The Liberal Democrat Leader of South Cambridgeshire District Council, Cllr Bridget Smith, also criticised Minister Rowley for ignoring an invitation to talk to councillors about the four-day week trial. 

Cllr Bridget Smith said: “The Government has slashed council budgets for over a decade and told us to innovate to deliver the best quality services. This four-day week trial is centred around evidence and data. Local government leaders of all political persuasions have told me that they are outraged at this huge overreach by Government Ministers in London telling us how we should be running the council our residents have elected us to.”

She added: "It is ironic that Mr Rowley chooses to attack us yet again, on the day that the Local Government Association, at our request, complete a Corporate Peer Review of the council. We are expecting that this will clearly state that we are in a strong financial position and are a well managed organisation with an enviable record of delivery.”

Lottie Winson