Event round-up: techUK & Skills for Care - Digital Transformation and AI in Local Authorities
techUK were delighted to partner with Skills for Care in March 2025 for an online event focused on digital transformation and the use of artificial intelligence in local authorities, with a focus on social care.
techUK members Sentinel Partners, Curam, and FarrPoint had the chance to showcase their work to an audience which comprised Social Workers, Occupational Therapists, social care commissioners and other local authority representatives. The three companies gave wide-ranging presentations demonstrating how utilising digital, data and technology are helping to address key challenges in social care settings.
Helena Zaum (CCO, Sentinel Partners) and Adam McCamley MBE (Senior Analyst-Intelligence and Analytics, Liverpool City Council) presented on how Liverpool Council are leveraging data to better identify and manage risk for unpaid carers in the region.
Helena and Adam outlined the journey towards creating a usable dataset which could act as a baseline of information for the Local Authority to use based on the number of “known” carers. This included cleansing, validating and matching the data to thousands of citizens and ensuring that the necessary information governance protocols were in place.
A scoring system and rules were developed based on the on the data and are used to understand the scale and nature of risk across unpaid carers. The ultimate ambition is to enable the correct resources- at the right time and place- to be deployed, and ultimately, reduce or delay growing care needs. Looking ahead, there are plans to enhance the risk profiling tool and to design a roadmap through which to identify unmet need. Additionally, a future goal is to incorporate more data complexity, including data held by other services such as primary care.
Benjamin Weatherall (Director, Curam) and Toks (a Personal Assistant who uses Curam’s platform) outlined how Curam are working to address the shortage of personal assistants in the social care sector. Curam’s digital platform allows personal assistants to be hired on a 24/7 basis and matches the unique needs of an individual requiring care with relevant personal assistants. To date over 10,000 personal assistants have been recruited through the platform, which also provides oversight of service user activity, contributing to cost and efficiency savings. Local Authorities are able to advertise care assistant posts directly to the platform.
Click here to view the slides presented by Curam.
Richard Parkinson (Director, FarrPoint) and Samantha Leonard (Project Manager, Digital Office for Scottish Local Government) presented on the Scottish Shared Telecare Alarm Receiving Centre. The solution is available for any Scottish telecare provider to use, with 19 of 32 Scottish Local Authorities are committed to using the platform as of 2025. The platform uses a common dataset plus common operational procedures such as common, reporting, training materials, as well as shared supplier management and incident resolution. Using the platform can reduce variation and complexity of operations, as well as make call efficiencies through shared overnight and specialist call handling.
Click here to view the slides presented by FarrPoint.
Rachel Mason (National Co-Production Advisory Group) spoke about the value of having shared access to data, particularly around care costs and services within a local area. She also emphasised the importance of taking an outcome-based approach and ensuring that solutions are co-produced when considering using or procuring technology for care.
Jennifer Pearl (National Co-Production Advisory Group) spoke about her experience living with a spinal injury and how mainstream technologies (including a smart watch, robotic vacuum and lawn mower) have supported her to live independently and to be less reliant on care and support.
Katie Thorn (Project Lead, Digital Care Hub) outlined the Oxford Project on the Responsible use of Generative AI in Social Care which is supported by the Institute of Ethics in AI at Oxford University, Casson Consulting and the Digital Care Hub. The initiative has been running for approximately one year to date and includes representatives from 30 organisations including people who draw on care, care providers, local government representation, policymakers, and key national charities operating in the social care sector. The initiative is overseen by a Steering Committee, which techUK is represented on, and has focused on identifying and exploring the opportunities and challenges surrounding the use of generative AI tools within social care contexts.
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Get in touch with techUK’s Health and Social Care Team below to find out more about techUK's Social Care Working Group and techUK’s work supporting the use of digital, data and technology within the social care sector.
Catch up on techUK’s roundtable discussing some of the key factors influencing the use of artificial intelligence within social care settings.
Read techUK’s Five Point Plan for CareTech report to see techUK’s key recommendations for accelerating digital transformation in social care.
