Tories to ban councils from working four-day weeks to 'ensure value for money for taxpayers'

Fintan Starkey
Wed, 08 Apr 2026 20:52:02 +0000

The Conservatives have pledged to outlaw councils from offering staff four-day working weeks while maintaining full salaries, should they secure victory at the next general election.

Shadow Communities Secretary Sir James Cleverly announced plans to bring forward legislation targeting all public services, including local authorities, that pay employees five days' wages for four days' work.

"Taxpayers should not be paying full rates for part-time services," Sir James stated.

He described the arrangement as failing to deliver value for money and argued it "does a disservice to hard-working families just trying to get by".

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The Conservatives intend to introduce a bill establishing work conditions for public sector employees.

South Cambridgeshire Council, led by the Liberal Democrats, has already implemented a permanent four-day week arrangement and stands as the sole authority to have fully adopted the practice.

Under the scheme, participating employees are required to deliver their full workload within 80 per cent of their usual contracted hours, without any reduction in pay.

Bridget Smith, the council's leader, has maintained that the authority performs "exceptionally high" and that the policy has generated approximately £400,000 in yearly savings.

Council officials have cited academic studies supporting the trial's effectiveness.

Ms Smith dismissed the Conservative proposal on Tuesday, calling it "political gymnastics" from an "outdated and out-of-touch" party.

The Government has already signalled its concerns about the practice.

Communities Secretary Steve Reed wrote to local authorities in December cautioning that intervention could follow if they operated four-day weeks for full-time staff.

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In his correspondence, Mr Reed indicated that employees working part-time hours for full-time pay could be "considered an indicator, among a wide range of factors, of potential failure" within a council.

Such a designation would empower ministers to take control of affected authorities and restore traditional five-day working patterns.

However, Sir James argued that the Government's warning did not go far enough and that an outright prohibition was necessary.

More than 20 councils have held discussions about implementing similar arrangements, with 25 authorities reportedly in talks with the Four Day Week Foundation last year.

Among those exploring the programme were Glasgow, Edinburgh, Belfast, and Fermanagh and Omagh.

In Wales, Plaid Cymru has committed to rolling out four-day weeks across the nation if it wins the Senedd elections in May.

Labour dismissed the Conservative announcement, with a party spokesman calling it "a total embarrassment for the Tories to be, yet again, railing against things that happened on their own watch, and which they took zero action on."