A Best Value Notice issued by the government to South Cambridgeshire District Council has been extended by six months.
In a letter to chief executive Liz Watts, reproduced in full below, a government official says there are “ongoing concerns about its trial of a ‘four-day working week’.
It means the council must continue to supply a raft of data showing the “impacts of the trial on services offered to residents and on the organisation itself”.
Government minister Lee Rowley called on the council to end its four-day week trial in letters issued in June and September last year.
But the Liberal Democrat leadership vowed to press on, arguing the trial needed to run its course to be properly evaluated.
The government then issued a Best Value Notice on 3 November as “formal notification” that the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DHULC) had concerns about the council.
The latest letter, from Max Soule, deputy director of local government stewardship at DHULC notes that since then the “authority has engaged constructively with these data requests so far” and urges the council to continue “engaging regularly”. It warns that it could extend the notice further.
Under the trial, council workers are paid the same salary as before, but work reduced hours - only four days a week instead of five. The council implemented the trial in order to aid permanent recruitment and bring down its spending on agency workers.
But critics argue that the taxpayer is not getting value for money.
Cllr Heather Williams (Con, The Mordens), leader of the Conservative opposition at South Cambridgeshire District Council, said: “This is yet another blow for residents. Six more months of weekly data submissions could have been avoided if the Lib Dems had seen sense and stopped the four-day week.
“As of March, the trial has ended. Yet there has been no final decision made by the full council. Despite this, officers continue to work four days a week, for five days’ pay, with 80 per cent of councillors still without any form of a vote.
“We are now left in limbo. If the trial has stopped, the four-day week should stop. Why is the council continuing to defy government warnings? The Lib Dems are continuing the four-day week by stealth.
“The government’s letter is clear – that the Lib Dems are risking handing the keys of the council to government through sheer stubbornness. How can this really be worth it?
“I warned before to change course before it was too late. Now I fear that it is.
“The Lib Dems need to stop. They need to remember why they were elected in the first place: to serve residents.”
But council leader Cllr Bridget Smith (Lib Dem, Gamlingay) argued: “The data and evidence we’ve seen so far shows how the four-day week is having a positive impact on many parts of the council – and lots of the services we provide to local people. For example, our ability to recruit and retain planning officers has dramatically improved.
“This means a smoother service for anyone who sends in a planning application as it can be dealt with by the same planner from start to finish.
“The government highlights in their letter how we have engaged constructively with their data requests so far. We will continue to do so.
“Performance data we’ve collected during the trial is being analysed, and councillors will also review this data at a full council meeting in July.”
The Conservatives, however, have questioned the performance of the council, noting that its planning department was ranked 299th out of 318 councils in England in a report by The Times.
The analysis, ranking councils on five services, placed the council in the top third overall, in 86th, but the Tories pointed to neighbouring East Cambridgeshire District Council - which they control - coming second. South Cambs came 53rd for finance, 85th for waste, 77th on roads and 73rd on social care. Labour-run Cambridge City Council, meanwhile, came 155th overall, coming 307th - one from last - for planning.
Cllr Williams said: “This latest news just reaffirms my concern that residents are not getting the service they deserve in South Cambs, and that spending taxpayers’ money – residents’ money – on the media circus that the four-day week has become is wrong, unreasonable and unfair to residents of South Cambs.
“I take no pleasure in seeing how low the council has ranked in these league tables. I believe there are good officers at the council who deserve to be supported and resourced properly – not subjected to social experiments like this.
“Let’s get people back to working the hours they are paid for and give residents the council they deserve.”
The letter in full
South Cambridgeshire District Council Best Value Notice issued on 8 May 2024
The Department issued a Best Value Notice to South Cambridgeshire District Council (“the Authority") on 3 November 2023 as a formal notification that the Department has concerns regarding the Authority and requesting that the Authority engages with the Department to provide assurance of improvement.
As part of the Notice, we requested that the Authority demonstrates how it is delivering its Best Value Duty, including by completing a data form seeking a range of ongoing and retrospective information in relation to the trial and the organisation more broadly. We recognise that the Authority has engaged constructively with these data requests so far.
The Department expects authorities to identify and implement arrangements to secure continuous improvement. Ministers remain concerned as to the Authority’s compliance with its Best Value Duty under the Local Government Act 1999. The Minister for Local Government has therefore made the decision to issue the Authority with this Best Value Notice (“Notice”).
This Notice is issued to the Authority following ongoing concerns about its trial of a ‘four-day working week’. These concerns were highlighted in Minister Rowley’s letters to the Leader of the Authority dated 30 June and 5 September 2023, which also requested that the Authority ends the trial, and are supported by guidance on four-day working week arrangements in local authorities issued by the Department on 26 October 2023. Concerns include that:
• The Authority is not yet fully analysing the long-term impacts of the trial and future decisions on the trial remain unknown.
• The removal of up to a fifth of the capacity of the Authority means that it is unlikely, in aggregate, for it to be able to support continuous improvement.
• In insisting on continuing the trial, the working arrangements chosen by the Authority could impact on the delivery of its Best Value Duty, consistent with the statutory guidance on Best Value Standards and Intervention issued on 8 May 2024.
As South Cambridgeshire has decided to continue with this trial, the Department requests that additional detail continues to be provided on its impacts, on individual employee productivity, the Authority and the provision of services as a whole. Ministers remain clear that they expect the Authority must demonstrate to the Department how it is delivering its Best Value Duty, by:
• Providing robust evidence of the impacts of the trial on services offered to residents and on the organisation itself.
• Setting out how it is evaluating Best Value in relation to the trial, specifically:
o To make arrangements to secure continuous improvement in the way in which its functions are exercised, having regard to a combination of economy, efficiency and effectiveness.
o That it has in place and properly deploys an effective internal control environment to safeguard the use of resources, and clear and effective processes to secure value for money.
o That human resources and fixed assets are managed efficiently and effectively.
• Responding to the Department’s requests for information fully and promptly.
The ongoing data request will continue throughout the duration of this Notice. We ask that this continues to be completed and returned on a weekly basis. Furthermore, the Authority previously provided comparable information for financial years 2018/19 to 2022/23 via an annual retrospective data collection form. We request that you now provide the information in this form for 2023/24, to provide insight into performance over a full financial year of the trial. This should be provided within one month of receipt of this letter. Should it be necessary, based on our evaluation of the data you provide, we reserve the right to request further information to inform our ongoing assessment of Best Value.
This Notice will remain in place for six months, to allow for further data analysis. After this time, should the Department deem it necessary to continue to seek assurance through such a Notice, the Notice will be reissued. The Notice may be withdrawn or escalated at any point based on the available evidence.
This Notice is 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 is important to ensure transparency in relation to the challenges faced by local authorities and the Department’s engagement on these. A copy of this Notice will therefore be published on gov.uk. It has also been copied to your Section 151 Officer and Monitoring Officer. I encourage you to make a copy of this Notice available on the Authority’s website, and to share a copy with the full Council and the audit committee. In line with this, we will notify your external auditor of this action.
We also expect the Authority to continue engaging regularly with the Department during the period of the Notice. A member of my team will be in touch with you to make arrangements. I look forward to receiving updates on your progress.
Yours sincerely,
Max Soule
Deputy Director, Local Government Stewardship
