"The Scottish Government has extended South of Scotland Enterprise's four-day working week, which comes with full salary for reduced hours, while Accountancy in Bankruptcy (AiB) debated shutting its doors on Friday..."
Daily Express: 5th October 2024: Newspaper report on the bizarre case of a quango gutting its hours, but not its pay and benefits.
"The Scottish Government has been blasted after extending a quango's four-day working week, which will see employees earn the same salary for working one less day. And one of the two publicly-funded organisations on the pilot even considered shutting up shop on Friday in order to run it. Humza Yousaf announced the start of this pilot in 2023 after lobbying from the Scottish Greens MSP Ross Greer, with the South of Scotland Enterprise the first arms-reach body to undertake it last October. It was meant to last a year but the Nat Executive quietly extended it for another five months...
...It sees 140 staff members at the body reduce their working hours from 37 to 32 without any loss of pay or loss of holidays in a scheme described as "bonkers" by some critics. Some have claimed that millions could be lost due to a drop in productivity...
Currently, the Scottish Government is grappling with a £1.5bn budget black hole and have promised to slash a bloated public service. So the fact that hundreds of staff are working less hours on the same wages has provoked anger..."