ICS.AI client Derby City Council announces £7.5M AI savings, ICS.AI pledges £5M savings guarantee for other councils

Announced following the Government’s Spending Review, CEO of technology partner ICS.AI says UK-wide council AI transformation could save government £2.6bn and calls time on fragmented public sector systems

Birmingham, UK; 12th June 2025 – During the SOCITM President’s Conference in Birmingham yesterday, ICS.AI customer Derby City Council revealed £7.5 million in savings from its AI transformation programme to date with ICS.AI, showcasing the power of a unified, AI-driven approach to public sector service.

The results in Derby City Council have given ICS.AI the confidence to formally guarantee savings of at least £5 million per year for qualifying mid-sized councils that adopt its SMART: AI unified platform.

Speaking at the conference – where Derby City Council and ICS.AI were also jointly awarded the Customer and Partner Collaboration of the Year Award – Martin Neale, CEO at ICS.AI, said:

Martin Neale, CEO at ICS.AI

"The UK government’s Spending Review revealed significant investment in AI for the public sector for projects that could deliver real efficiencies. By adopting AI for councils on a national scale, we’ve identified that the government could save £2.6bn." 

"Contributing to this, we are proud to announce our AI transformation savings guarantee of a minimum of £5m per year for qualifying councils." Neale continued. "This allows other councils to replicate what Derby has achieved without the risk and in a fraction of the time. This game-changer is available to Local Government, and we plan to offer it to Higher Education later this year, followed by the NHS." 

The SMART: AI Transformation Programme pioneered at Derby takes a unified approach that eliminates the complexity of managing multiple single-purpose AI solutions. Instead of creating a patchwork of vendor systems, the SMART: Unified AI Platform provides a comprehensive “AI for All” solution that supports every council use case and user type through a single, integrated platform – from citizen-facing services and staff productivity tools to process automation and beyond.

Derby’s CEO Paul Simpson described how the council is transforming service delivery through AI: "Derby has a long history of innovation as the home of the industrial revolution," 

he said.

Paul Simpson, CEO at Derby City Council

"The AI transformation programme we engaged with ICS.AI has delivered results beyond our expectations with performance exceeding our targets, and the response from staff and citizens has been very positive. We were aware of the risks of being the first in the UK to undertake such an extensive AI programme, and the ICS.AI guarantee will allow other councils to replicate our approach without the technical and commercial risks we faced."

This unified approach delivers proven ROI at scale through organisation-wide transformation, with most councils achieving an ROI of over 300% and guaranteed savings via economies of scale. Councils benefit from rapid deployment with pre-built solutions, ensuring faster time-to-value and immediate benefits, while significantly reducing total costs compared to multiple point solutions. The platform provides enterprise-grade security with consistent AI governance, compliance and security across all use cases, plus a superior user experience through a unified interface for residents, staff and partners. As an evergreen platform, it ensures continuous access to cutting-edge AI capabilities, keeping councils at the forefront of innovation.

Beyond cost savings, the platform is designed to augment – not replace – human support, ensuring sensitive and complex enquiries remain in expert hands. This strategy allows councils to lower total cost of ownership by 40–60% and deflect over 40% of calls from phone channels.

The savings guarantee is scaled proportionally to council size, with £5 million based on a unitary council of 4,000 staff serving 250,000 residents. Smaller councils can expect guarantees from approximately £3 million annually, while larger authorities could see guarantees of up to £20 million. Qualifying councils are those that offer social care services and are committed to following the SMART: AI Transformation process developed at Derby. Full details available from ICS.AI.

To hear more about Derby City Council's AI transformation journey and their incredible savings story, join our deep dive showcase webinar with them on 14th July - save your spot here.

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