They all seem pretty obvious now. Each has had a profound, transformative impact on the lives of working people. There would be complete outrage if any of them were taken away. But they didn’t start out as obvious, or easy. Most of them will have been viciously opposed by a variety of companies, their lobbyists, media organisations and politicians. Most will have taken years, or decades of work to achieve.
Well, what if we wanted to add another to the list? The four-day work week. Where would we start? South Cambridgeshire District Council seems as good a place as any.
Trials and tribulations
Liz Brennan (left) is branch secretary of Cambridge City and South UNISON branch. In late 2022, she was told that, after a three-month planning period, on 1 January 2023, South Cambridgeshire council would be moving to a four-day work week. “It got us off on the wrong footing,” she says.
“We didn’t get any pre-warning – we actually found out on the same day as the press. I guess we were a bit annoyed at that stage, and rightly cynical. We don’t usually get anything for nothing in local government, do we? So, I think we thought it was too good to be true, and that there would be a trade-off. We were thinking, are they going to reduce the pay increments?”
According to the 4 Day Week Foundation, the council was motivated to do the trial because it had acute recruitment and retention issues and was only able to recruit to around eight out of every 10 vacant posts. As a result, it was spending around £2m a year on agency staff.
The council was going to run a three-month trial for desk-based staff which would see their hours reduce from 37.5 a week to 30. Crucially, this would be with no loss of pay. It was the first ever trial of the four-day work week in a UK council.
“The four-day week has been my main reason for staying with the council.”
Reacting to the announcement
While the branch hadn’t been consulted before the trial was announced, it snapped into gear quickly after it was.
Liz continues: “The first stage saw the council go out to teams and getting them to think about how they would do things differently. What were their priorities? Where could they build in efficiencies?
“Meanwhile, we had an initial meeting with members and started to set ourselves up with the ability to respond throughout the trial period. We planned to do in-depth interviews with 10 members before, during and after, so that we could track their experience.”
Liz explains the reaction of some members when the trial was announced and the details began to emerge: “We had lots of queries from people who had already reduced their hours, or who had gone part time. Many felt they had already built in as much efficiency into their work as possible, so it felt difficult for them to work out how they were going to cope.”
For the council, a key requirement of the trial was that service opening times remained at the same level: “The chief exec of the council still wanted it to operate from Monday to Friday and that there would always still be people in each department.
“I think Monday and Friday are the favoured days to take off, but teams had to work out their pattern. They wanted people to stick to their day and not swap it around, so that they could build up a bit of consistency.”
By the end of the three months, the council estimated that improvement to recruitment and retention meant it was saving around £300,000 from the annual wage bill each year.
“The four-day week has been a good balance of work and life. It has been beneficial for my wellbeing and has felt like I have been more productive and successful in the days I am working.”
Extending the trial
While not without hitches, the trial was working, and the decision was taken to extend it for a further year. However, this opened up several issues. The extension through Easter meant the council had to solve the problem of bank holidays and pro-rata leave. Liz says: “So when the council began to introduce pro-rata leave and accommodate the bank holidays, that sent shockwaves through the staff.”
Staff would still get the bank holidays off, but would not get the ‘extra’ day off that week. “So, they had the choice to retain their non-working day and work the bank holiday, or to change it to the bank holiday for that week.”
This becomes complex when dealing with part-time or reduced hours staff. “Because they hadn’t done it up front, it caused issues with people saying ‘We’ve got less’, or ‘we’re missing out.’ We [the branch] checked all that, did all the calculations and found that they weren’t missing out. But because this happened three months into the trial it felt like they were changing terms on people.”
Another issue they faced was that in the extended trial the council wanted to bring operational staff, like the shared waste service, onto the four-day week. The teams had not been included in the original trial and, as such, the whole thing had “started with a bit of iniquity, which never goes down well, does it?” says Liz.
Waste services was particularly difficult to bring down to four days: “They needed to do a whole load of work to see what bin-lorry routes were efficient, and what needed changing. They found that they couldn’t maintain the rounds on a 30-hour week. They would have had to get a new bin-lorry and extra staff costing hundreds of thousands of pounds.
“But they found that they could make it work on 32 hours. So, in September [2024], they harmonised desk-based staff up to 32 hours and brought in the four-day week for operational staff. Again, that was a slight ‘oh what are they doing now’ moment.”
Public reaction
There was local political opposition from some councillors and from organisations such as the TaxPayers’ Alliance. Furthermore, the previous Conservative government in Westminster also issued two ‘best value notices’, which meant the council “had to provide something like 200 pieces of data every single week, and the government was consulting on imposing financial penalties on councils who tried to put the four-day week into place.”
“I’d say it got a bit nasty, really,” says Liz, “When you look on Facebook and see comments like ‘lazy councils’, ‘why would we pay you for five days work a week’’.”
Liz says the council has been generally supportive of staff and of the scheme. And from the branch and the workers’ perspective they see it as “a way of benefitting from the massive efficiencies which have already been delivered in local government. Our pay has dropped by 20% [in real terms], so rather than looking at it as something for nothing, we turn it on its head and say, this is where we’re benefitting.”
The current Labour government has dropped the ‘best value notices’ which has allowed the council to consult with residents ahead of councillors making a final decision, which should happen after the May elections.
“Dramatically better environment. People are happier, not at the end of their tether, and better able to cope with challenges. Also seems to be a more efficient attitude to work.”
Outcomes
Perhaps the clearest impact of the trial is in recruitment and retention. Staff turnover dropped by almost 40% and there has been an increase of over 50% of the average number of job applications received for vacancies. Meanwhile, of the 130 new staff who joined the council, 76% say they were influenced by the four-day week in wanting to work there.
In terms of service delivery for the council, in 2024 there was an independent report into the trial by Salford and Cambridge universities. They found that out of 24 key performance indicators, 22 had improved or remained the same. And by members, the four-day week has mostly been welcomed. The council found that employee commitment, motivation, physical and mental health all showed marked improvements and a survey of staff found 88.5% of respondents said they would like the council to move permanently to a four-day week.
Overall, Liz and the branch are very positive about the trial. “But we wouldn’t say it’s working 100%,” she continues. “As part of the trial, flexi-leave was taken out. You can swap your days, but to keep some consistency in service, it’s not encouraged. So, some people have said it has become less flexible for them and others have found it difficult to cover childcare during weeks where there is a bank holiday, for example.”
Learnings
“There are so many lessons,” says Liz, “But number one, is that there is no perfect blueprint. The shape and culture of each organisation is so different – everyone has to work it out in their own way. The second is, don’t leave anyone behind, take everyone with you. Yes, operational staff are the hardest to cover – cleaners, waste management, street cleansing – so maybe begin with them. It shouldn’t just work for desk-based staff. Another really important lesson is that if you’re starting to negotiate for a four-day week, you need vacancies to be filled. If people are struggling to cover vacant posts, they will really struggle with a four-day week.”
Finally, Liz highlights that it would be better to get your head around the technical elements early on and communicate these to members. How will leave work pro-rata? What options will there be for part-time or reduced hours staff to adapt? What changes to flexibility will there be?
Liz is quick to highlight is that the changes went forward on the basis of local pay arrangements. The branch has now submitted a motion to local government conference to push forward the four-day week agenda through the NJC and the Labour government.
Shorter working week
Liz and her branch have worked closely with the bargaining support unit in the creation of a bargaining guide on the subject. To learn more about UNISON’s campaign for a shorter working week and to access the guide, visit: unsn.uk/4-day-week