A council which introduced a four-day working week has rejected a move to monitor staff working second jobs on their paid day off.
There are concerns that as many as one in six employees at South Cambridgeshire district council (SCDC) carry out other work during their extra rest day.
The Liberal Democrat-run council became the first in Britain to adopt a four-day week when it launched a trial in 2023 in which employees carry out 100 per cent of their work in 80 per cent of their previous hours.
The staff do not take a pay cut and are encouraged to use the non-working day to “recover and re-energise”.
Dan Lentell, an independent councillor, had put forward a motion calling for “appropriate monitoring” after a survey revealed several people had second jobs.
However, a SCDC Cabinet meeting on Tuesday rejected the motion without a vote. Senior councillors said that measures were already in place to prevent staff taking second jobs which conflicted with their council duties.
A health and wellbeing survey found that 16 per cent of SCDC’s staff undertook other paid work during their extra day.
The 2024 questionnaire revealed that 50 per cent used their day off for life admin, closely followed by housework.
Additional cleaning shifts
The council has said that the majority of those with second jobs worked in waste services, often taking on additional cleaning shifts with other organisations, and already had them before the trial began.
Cllr Lentell told the meeting that monitoring of second jobs was vital if residents were to have faith they were receiving the best deal from their local services.
He said: “Value for money has not been at the centre of this process.
“Four in seven [day] working models create new challenges for employers and moonlighting has not been considered by our council. Trust has been lost.”
The independent ward councillor said that while he was in favour of a four-day working week, there should be guidelines to avoid any conflict of interest.
Trial a ‘car crash’
His motion called for “appropriate monitoring and reporting mechanisms” to be put in place during the trial. Mr Lentell also proposed creating clear guidelines to prohibit any form of external employment during the paid day off “if such work could conflict with council duties or undermine public trust in the integrity of the council’s workforce”.
Critics have described the four-day week trial as a “car crash” with call waiting times rising and staff reporting higher stress levels since it was introduced.
Cllr John Williams, the lead member for resources, told the meeting: “We already have a contract which stipulates that staff must not take other work which is in a conflict of interest. Obviously we have to rely on the honesty of staff but there are already safeguards in place.”
According to SCDC’s website, the purpose of the extra day off is for staff to “recover and re-energise” in preparation for a “more intense” four-day working week.
The authority asks staff not to take on additional paid work on their non-working day and encourages them to undertake caring responsibilities, volunteering and use it for their personal wellbeing.
