Cambridge Council’s ‘Independent’ Four-Day Week Report Authored by Work Reduction Activist – Guido Fawkes

Cambridge Council’s ‘Independent’ Four-Day Week Report Authored by Work Reduction Activist

The ‘independent’ analysis produced this month to justify South Cambridgeshire District Council’s four-day work week was actually produced by a propagandist for them. Shock…

The council is voting today at 2 p.m. on whether to turn their long experiment into a permanent four-day week policy. The ‘independent’ report from two weeks ago was commissioned from the universities of Salford, Bradford and Cambridge to “maintain independence from the research participants and policy makers.” One of the three is Brendan Burchell, social science professor at the University of Cambridge. And a campaigner for a four-day working week…

Burchell was videoed by UKRI before this report was written in October last year after a recent taxpayer-funded trial he ran on a shorter week:

“We should be doing it… Yes, you need to bring people on board. You need to reassure them that nobody’s going to get a pay cut and that they need to think of better ways of working.“

An eyebrow-raising choice from the council for ‘independent’ analysis of its experiment data. The council boasts of the spun up report that “21 of 24 services have improved or stayed the same since four-day week working began at the Council in 2023” while actual data shows most services staying the same and a significant reduction in the quality of housing services. Co-conspirators may remember the council has form on fiddling its reporting on a four-day week…

The council also says a main achievement is in hiring: “The number of applications for jobs at the Council rose by more than 120 per cent during the four-day week… The number of workers leaving fell by more than 40 per cent – helping provide benefits to communities through greater stability of services.” Quelle surprise…

The TaxPayers’ Alliance has been leading the charge against the four-day week and tells Guido: “The council cannot be trusted. Councillors need to stand up to this rotten leadership and vote against the four day week being made permanent.” Something tells Guido they will be happy to collect higher taxes and do less work…