Councils across the UK are turning to artificial intelligence to help close a looming £4bn funding gap, but local government experts warn the technology is not the silver bullet that will rescue services from what one describes as the brink of collapse.
A BBC Shared Data Unit analysis found that 146 of 148 English councils have signed off savings worth £2.86bn for the current financial year, with 218 upper-tier authorities planning around £3.2bn of cuts between them. The approved measures include less frequent bin collections, shuttered heritage sites, withdrawn bus routes and, at one authority, the complete removal of sheltered housing support. Parking permit and green waste charges are rising at dozens of councils, and council tax is going up by the maximum 5% at nearly all of them.
Dozens of councils have pledged to use AI to drive savings. Medway Council, for example, says it will use AI to draft care plans and automate invoice processing. Several authorities are reducing staffing in call centres, where residents query council tax bills, order new bins or arrange care assessments, and bringing in chatbots to triage initial queries.
But experts point to ethical concerns, particularly around the use of AI to assess the level of care that vulnerable people need, and argue that technology alone will not address the underlying funding pressures. They say the sector is a long way from replacing the human judgement required in adult social care and children’s services.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said the government did not mandate how local authorities used AI, but encouraged its use where it could help alleviate pressures and free up staff to deliver better public services.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has pledged to reform social care as dozens of councils look to make drastic cuts to care provision. The warnings come as the government considers wider changes to how local government is funded, with experts saying AI should be seen as one tool among many, not a substitute for sustainable funding.