Outcry as town hall boss says working 4-day week ‘is a gift’
THE leader of the first town hall to introduce a four- day week was yesterday accused of insulting hard- pressed residents by hiking council tax while giving staff an extra day off.
Councillor Bridget Smith was attacked for dismissing concerns about performance at South Cambridgeshire District Council as being ‘minor issues’.
She also faced questions after appearing to admit the fourday working week experiment had been introduced for the benefit of its top official’s secret PhD project on the topic.
Yet councillors voted through a year-long extension of the policy to let all of the authority’s desk-based staff work 80 per cent of their contracted hours without loss of pay.
Lib Dem Ms Smith told a council meeting yesterday: ‘The day off a week is a gift. It’s the gift of being able to work smarter, much more intensively and get the job done in that four-day period.’
She insisted the first threemonth pilot of the four- day week had benefited the council, its staff and residents.
And she dismissed complaints that it was taking officers longer to answer phones or deal with planning applications. But Conservative group leader, councillor Heather Williams, told her: ‘Agency workers are still working five days and only 61 per cent of officers on the trial claim they can do their work within four days.’
She went on: ‘Bear in mind, we’ve put up council tax here. put up social rents, garages, everything you can think of and some people are taking on second jobs working all the hours God sends to make ends meet and then see this council giving everybody a day off.
‘So is all this worth it for the taxpayer? Or are they right to feel let down and insulted?’
Fellow Tory councillor Richard Williams said he was ‘shocked’ to hear the failure to meet key targets described as ‘minor issues’.
He added: ‘If you apply for housing benefit and it takes twice as long to process your claim as before, it’s not a really minor issue.’
He also challenged her about her comment on radio over the revelation that chief executive Liz Watts has been working on a doctorate on the four- day week without revealing it.
Mr Williams said: ‘I think the leader needs to explain that.’
But Ms Smith replied: ‘So in a word, the answer’s no.’
Local Tory MP Anthony Browne said: ‘ This proves beyond doubt that residents are not being served by the council but used as guinea pigs.’
South Cambridgeshire District Council increased council tax by the maximum permitted 3.1 per cent earlier this year, Analysis by the TaxPayers’ Alliance has found that it has increased its council tax by 142 per cent in the past 30 years.
The pressure group said: ‘This is the second most in England, with only Huntingdonshire higher.’