How local government is using AI to transform social care

Guest blog by Rachel Astall, Chief Customer Officer at Beam #DigitalLocalGov

Rachel Astall

Chief Customer Officer, Beam

Frontline care professionals are stretched to breaking point. High caseloads and rising demand exacerbated by the administrative demands of the job - with endless case notes and assessments to write up. Managers stretched just as thin, or thinner. It’s no surprise that this is leading to burnout and soaring vacancy rates, and local councils are suffering for it.

In the UK, care professionals are spending 65% of their time on administrative tasks, with just 20% for supporting people directly - the reason they get out of bed every morning and chose a career in social care in the first place.

Building Magic Notes

That’s why we built Magic Notes. Born from our direct experience delivering frontline welfare services, Magic Notes is an AI-powered tool designed to break through the administrative blockage that stifles frontline professionals. It uses generative AI to turn meeting recordings into detailed reports and case notes – giving staff back valuable time so they can focus their attention on care.

Today, more than 100 local authorities and 50,000 frontline practitioners use Magic Notes, proving the growing appetite for this innovative technology.

Impact at Kent County Council

At Kent County Council, more than 1,000 frontline staff now use Magic Notes after 29 practitioners piloted the tool. The pilot evaluation, which was validated by Unity Insights, showed that Magic Notes saved staff on average seven hours per week, freeing up their time to provide more timely, person-centric care. As staff were no longer distracted by note-taking, they were more likely to capture important details, ask relevant follow-up questions, and fully engage in the conversation.

One occupational therapist at Kent County Council said: “Magic Notes has improved the quality of my assessment as I have been able to converse with the client more effectively and the information that has been taken for the assessment has been a lot more detailed than I would have been able to record.”

Financial and staff benefits

Across the board, we’ve also heard countless stories of how AI is positively impacting job satisfaction, as staff are less stressed and able to focus on the parts of the role they enjoy most. For staff with neurodiversity, AI tools can be even more of a game changer. Natalie, Family Support Worker at Warrington Borough Council, has ADHD and often found herself getting overwhelmed and struggling to complete her documentation on time.

Since using Magic Notes, she told us, “My wellbeing at work has improved a lot. I don't find any stress with my job, and I'm enjoying my job more.” It’s no surprise then that several councils including Stockton and Somerset are now promoting AI tools like Magic Notes within their job ads and recruitment campaigns to attract social workers and other frontline care professionals.

There are also huge potential cost savings for councils who are smart about using AI. At one council, an independent study found that they could save £23.30 for every £1 spent if they rolled out Magic Notes to 700 staff over a 5 year period. These cost savings came primarily from the substantial staff time savings in completing assessments. Of course, how councils choose to spend this time saved will differ. For example, reinvesting it into additional assessments to reduce backlogs, reducing spend on agency staff or improving service continuity. However, the return on investment is undeniable.

The future of AI in social care

Moving forward, we believe that frontline professionals and local authority leaders should be the ones shaping early-stage product ideas based on real-world needs. That’s why we launched Innovation Labs, frontline organisations team up with Beam engineers to build new AI tools which solve key challenges in frontline services. This ensures that new functionality - like those aimed at improving accuracy, reducing silos, or spotting patterns - is designed with the sector, not just for it.

As AI adoption becomes more widespread, we also think it’s important that the public, including users of social care services, are consulted on how AI is used in public service delivery. We recently partnered with Nesta on its AI Social Readiness Advisory label process - an innovative model to measure public confidence and trust in specific tools like Magic Notes.

The findings showed that the public are excited about the potential of AI in public service, as long as it is carefully thought through. In the case of Magic Notes, 86% of the public felt that Magic Notes would benefit the social care process, which was really positive. And we also heard new ideas for where technology could make a difference to public services.

There’s a monumental opportunity here for local government leaders who want to embrace AI. As we’ve seen with Kent County Council,

AI isn’t just a force for efficiency - it’s a catalyst for restoring purpose, improving care, and transforming lives.

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