Four-day week not taxpayers' vision of a public service

Britain is gripped by a productivity crisis and a four-day week won't help things

- Duncan Barkes Guest Columnist

Britain is gripped by a productivity crisis and a four-day week won't help things

THE SCOURGE of the fourday working week in the public sector is getting a serious grip on the country and it is taxpayers who once again will be losing out. Campaigners and unions now want schools in England and Wales to pilot being open four days a week, instead of five, and parents are rightly kicking off.

This latest development is hot on the heels of a decision by South Cambridgeshire District Council to allow their staff to work four days a week but still be paid for five. Following a two-and-a-half year trial, and in spite of declining performance in several key areas, the Liberal Democrat-controlled council decided to adopt this as a permanent policy earlier this year.

Predictably, there are now rumblings from other councils around the country that wish to follow suit. Supporters say there really should not be any objections if the same amount of work is being done and service standards are maintained.

But taxpayers shouldn't accept services are being maintained — we should be pushing for services to be improved and it is hard to see how they can be if staff are working less time in a week. No wonder the country has seen public sector productivity slump post-Covid.