Big Society tsar Lord Wei plans to stop working overtime for the government as the Big Society policy has developed past its early stages, says a Cabinet Office spokesman.

Lord Wei is contracted to work two days a week as the government’s adviser on the Big Society.  The Guardian reported yesterday that he was scaling back his hours on the project from three days a week to two, to allow him to see his family more and to take on other jobs to pay the bills, but the Cabinet Office told Civil Society this was not a change to his contract, merely a decision to work less overtime.

“Lord Wei has often worked more than his set hours to meet the demands of early policy development,” said the spokesman. “As Big Society policy develops he expects to be able to stick to his agreed hours which have not changed.”

The role is unpaid and Lord Wei gave up a number of directorships last year to be able to take it on, including his role as executive chair of the Big Society Network.

At the time, the decision left him without any sources of income except rental income from an apartment in East London.