South Cambs District Councillor (SCDC) Report August 2025

Bill Handley

District Councillor for Over and Willingham

Phone: 01954 200287 (leave a message). Email: cllr.handley@scambs.gov.uk

Over and Willingham Community/Mobile Warden Scheme

The Age UK Community/Mobile Warden Scheme for Over and Willingham is currently under review. The scheme has had significant financial support over the years both from SCDC and Over and Willingham Parish Councils. However, the number of residents in Over who are taking advantage of the scheme has been low in recent years and Over Parish Council discontinued its financial support for 2025/26. A higher number of Willingham residents are in the scheme and the Parish Council there has elected to continue its support. Age UK tell us that existing clients will be unaffected by all this but if there are new applications from Over residents they are likely to be accepted on different terms and conditions. Meanwhile, discussions will take place to secure the schemes’ financial viability going forward.    

Relaunch of Rural England Prosperity Fund grants

A second year of the government’s Rural England Prosperity Fund has just been launched, providing grants for capital projects. The fund (of over £350,000) is to support business and community projects in South Cambridgeshire. It can provide support for enterprises to start up or scale up and to support community projects such as digital infrastructure, green spaces, heritage assets, active travel, rural circular economy, volunteering and capacity building.

Last year, this fund supported 26 projects, including the recently reopened Over Skate Park.

Applicants can apply for between £10,000 up to £50,000 and the scheme will be open until 11:59pm Sunday 24 August. More information can be found on SCDC’s website here.

Council tax 2024/25

Council Tax is collected by SCDC to fund vital local services. Only around 7.5% of residents’ annual Council Tax bill goes towards the services which SCDC provides – such as emptying bins, determining planning applications and homelessness support and SCDC’s is one of the lowest Council Tax charges in the country. The largest chunk of Council Tax goes to other authorities such as the Police, Fire Service, County Council, the Combined Authority and Parish and Town Councils.

The government has now released statistics for collection rates and these show that SCDC collected 99.23% of due Council Tax in the 2024/25 financial year. This compared with the national average for England 95.88% and meant SCDC was the second most top-performing council of the 300
tax-collecting authorities in England.

Support is available for those residents who are struggling to meet Council Tax payments. Visit the South Cambridgeshire District Council website for details: https://www.scambs.gov.uk/council-tax/discounts-and-support

The four-day week becomes permanent

SCDC recently voted to become the first council in the UK to permanently adopt a four-day week. The decision was taken by full Council after it was presented with rigorous, independent analyses showing that most services either improved or were maintained and with significant improvements to recruitment and retention. SCDC is the employing authority of two services which are shared with Cambridge City Council – Greater Cambridge Shared Planning and Greater Cambridge Shared Waste – and the City Council recently also voted to support the continuation of the four-day week in these services.

There has been stiff resistance to the Council’s trial from the beginning, some of it on ideological grounds with the previous Conservative government trying hard to thwart the council’s efforts to improve itself and causing significant delays to the conclusion of the trial. There has also been misinformation and disinformation, with a national, right-wing pressure group using its muscle to try to influence the council’s decision whilst paying no regard to the facts. For this reason, I make no apology for going through the subject again.

Under the four-day week scheme, if staff decide to opt-in, they are expected to carry out 100 per cent of their work, in 80 per cent of their contracted hours, without a reduction in pay.

Independent analyses of the data produced by the council’s trial (by the Universities of Salford, Bradford and Cambridge) showed that 21 out of 24 services improved or stayed the same. The study showed a statistically significant improvement in the following areas:

When the effects of COVID are discounted, every single service monitored either got better or stayed the same.

A major incentive for the council in setting up the trial was because of difficulties in attracting and retaining staff. The Greater Cambridge area is one of the most expensive places to live in the country and the council found recruitment difficult, especially for (but not exclusively) planning officers and HGV drivers, who can command much higher pay in the private sector. Before the trial started, only around 50-80% of the jobs advertised were filled.  Since the trial started, the number of applications for jobs at the Council rose by more than 120% and the number of workers leaving fell by more than 40 per cent. More staff now say that they intend to continue to work for the Council, a key factor in reducing staff turnover and high vacancy rates. Mental and physical health and motivation have improved and further independent research by the University of Cambridge has shown how the four-day week benefits colleagues with medical conditions and/or disabilities and those with a need for the support of carers.

The Council has also cut the amount it has to spend on staff. There has been an annual saving of almost £400K, due mainly to a higher proportion of permanent staff rather than having to use expensive agency workers.

A fuller report on the four-day week with links to detailed council reports can be found here: https://www.scambs.gov.uk/four-day-working-week

SCDC Community Programmes

Hundreds of residents of all ages have been supported to live healthier lives thanks to community programmes and initiatives delivered and managed by SCDC. Cookery classes, athletics camps, wellbeing walks and cardiac rehab are among the activities the Council is committed to. Find out more here: Exercise Referral scheme, the Cardiac Phase 4 rehabilitation referral scheme, holiday sports camps for young people or email AandH4L@scambs.gov.uk