Renfrewshire Council selects ICS.AI for £5m+ AI transformation programme

Major council-wide AI programme will support staff and services as Renfrewshire Council responds to rising costs and demand

Renfrewshire Council has selected ICS.AI as its strategic AI transformation partner in a major three-year programme to use artificial intelligence to transform services, support staff and help address growing financial and operational pressures.

The contract, worth more than £5 million over its initial three-year term, follows a competitive procurement process and builds on the council's existing work with ICS.AI, which developed and launched Millie, Renfrewshire’s award-winning AI phone assistant, in November 2024.

Like many councils across the UK, Renfrewshire is facing rising costs and demand and needs to make savings to meet that challenge. The programme will explore how AI can help the council work more efficiently, support its workforce and continue delivering high-quality services for residents.

Before awarding the contract, Renfrewshire undertook what is believed to be the most extensive AI transformation assessment by a Scottish local authority. ICS.AI was selected following a competitive procurement process that initially considered more than 100 potential suppliers, before narrowing the field to 14 at the next stage. The appointment recognised ICS.AI’s experience delivering AI transformation programmes across UK local government and builds on its existing work with Renfrewshire Council. Working across 25 service areas, more than 100 council staff took part in 32 workshops which identified 194 potential AI use cases.

The first phase will see ICS.AI build on the success of Millie, upgrading the existing telephone service with generative AI capabilities and developing a new web-based Citizen Copilot to give residents greater access to council information and services.

An AI Staff Copilot will also be rolled out to eligible council employees, providing secure AI tools to help with everyday work, council information, meetings and case notes.

The programme will also introduce AI agents to support three high-volume areas: service inboxes, Freedom of Information and Subject Access Requests, and complaints handling. Staff will retain oversight, with AI supporting rather than replacing human decision-making.

Patrick Murray, Head of Digital, Transformation and Customer Services at Renfrewshire Council, said:

“We can no longer rely on traditional savings measures alone and need to find new ways of working to maintain high-quality services and meet future pressures. ICS.AI has already demonstrated what AI can deliver for Renfrewshire through Millie and has experience delivering similar transformation programmes across UK local government. We’re now building on that foundation to look at how AI can support our staff, improve services and help us work more efficiently.”

Martin Neale, founder and CEO of ICS.AI, added:

“Renfrewshire is moving beyond experimentation with AI and putting it at the heart of how it transforms public services. What is particularly significant is the scale and rigour of the work that has gone into identifying where AI can make a genuine difference - not simply deploying technology for technology's sake.

“Councils across the UK face the same challenge: demand for services is increasing while financial and workforce pressures continue to grow. Renfrewshire is demonstrating what the next phase of public-sector AI looks like - applying proven technology across an organisation to give staff more capacity, improve services for residents and create a fundamentally more sustainable operating model.”

The programme will be introduced in three phases. Phase one, from November 2026 to March 2028, will focus on proven, lower-risk AI solutions designed to deliver early benefits and build confidence. Phase two will introduce more service-specific tools, followed by wider transformational change across council services during phase three.

AI will be introduced under a formal governance framework, with staff training, human oversight, data protection controls, trade union engagement and regular transparency reporting built into the programme.

Millie has been operating in Renfrewshire since November 2024 and has already handled hundreds of thousands of calls. The service has won multiple awards, including the Leading Innovation Award at the COSLA Excellence Awards 2025 and the Digital Public Services Award at the Scottish Public Service Awards 2025.

ICS.AI’s growing presence in Scotland

This appointment comes amid growing momentum for ICS.AI across Scotland, where the company is working with a number of other local authorities on AI transformation plans. This includes one project recently selected as one of only two AI initiatives to receive funding through the Scottish Government’s Public Sector Reform Invest to Save Fund - a result now being shared with IT directors from across Scotland’s other local authorities. ICS.AI is also building a dedicated team in Scotland, with roles spanning AI transformation, development and adoption.

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