West Berkshire Council has ruled out shifting staff on to a four-day week, after the local government secretary Steve Reed has written to all council leaders in England warning them not to introduce it.
West Berkshire Council has ruled out shifting staff to a four-day week after local government secretary Steve Reed wrote to all council leaders warning them not to introduce it.
Council leader Jeff Brooks (Lib Dem, Thatcham West) said it was "not something we would consider" after Mr Reed was said to have been disappointed when South Cambridgeshire District Council – also a Liberal Democrat authority – became the first local authority to make the change in the summer.
The letter is understood 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 Government’s policy "unambiguously clear to all councils".
A Labour source said: "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."
In the letter to the councils, which was reported by The Telegraph, Mr Reed says that local authorities should not be offering "full-time pay for part-time work". South Cambridgeshire District Council became the first to make a permanent move to a four-day week in July after it began trialling a shorter working week in 2023.
Niki Hinman, Local Democracy Reporter
