Four-day weeks warned against by Local Government Secretary

Steve Reed, the Local Government Secretary, has written to all council leaders in England, warning them against introducing four-day weeks. According to The Daily Telegraph, the letter is believed to say “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 hoped that the government policy has been made “unambiguously clear to all councils.”

“Voters deserve high standards and hard work from local councils,” a Labour source was quoted by the BBC, “and seeing council staff working a four-day week just won’t cut it,” adding that “they should get on with the job and make sure residents get the best service possible five days a week.”

Reed wrote to councils in England, saying that local authorities should not offer “full-time pay for part-time work,” according to The Telegraph. He had previously expressed “deep disappointment” after South Cambridgeshire District Council, led by the Liberal Democrats, become the first to switch to a permanent four-day week, following a trial in 2023. There had been a decline in performance, according to Reed, in the council’s housing services. If a council is considered to be failing, the government can intervene.

Prime Minster, Sir Keir Starmer rejected calls from civil servants for four-day working weeks. Critics of it say that productivity and economic growth would decline but some disagree.

A trial in the public sector in Scotland in 2025 found that productivity and staff well-being had improved, with a study commissioned by the Scottish government to co-ordinate the pilot finding 98% of staff felt their motivation and morale had improved.

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