What 12 AI assessments have taught us

ICS AI

9 hours ago

5 min read

By Dwayne Johnson, Chief Local Government Officer, ICS.AI

I spent most of my career on the other side of the table - as a director of social services and as a council chief executive. So, when I look at how councils approach AI, I look at it through the lens of the people who have to make it work: the leaders who sign off the plan, the managers who run the services, the staff who do the work every day, and the outcomes for residents and our communities who support people.

Five things that matter most in an AI assessment

We have now delivered 12 SMART: AI Assessments across UK local government and higher education. No two have been the same - but the things that make the biggest difference have been remarkably consistent. Here’s my view on the five that matter the most:

1. Leadership

Everything starts here. In every assessment we’ve run, three things make the biggest difference:

A clear vision and commitment. Leaders who are clear on why they want AI – whether that’s closing a budget gap, improving outcomes for residents, or giving stretched teams time back.

A whole-council mandate. Buy-in can't stop at the senior leadership team. Elected Members need to understand and support the direction, and so do the managers and staff who will live with the changes. When the mandate is genuinely council-wide, workshops are more open and decisions stick.

Honesty about where you are. The most useful assessments start with a candid view of the council's position - its finances, its systems, its data and its appetite for change. There is no wrong starting point, but there is a wrong plan. The best plans are built on an honest picture of where you are today.

2. The right people

It's tempting to think that more people in the room means a better outcome. In our experience, it's quality over quantity.

The best workshops bring together three groups: the leaders who set the strategy, the managers who run the operations, and the people who actually do the work day to day. The doers are often the most valuable voices in the room, because they know exactly where the time goes and where the workarounds are.

Two more people make a disproportionate difference: someone from finance and a technical lead. Finance makes sure the numbers are grounded from the start, rather than being challenged at the end. The technical lead makes sure every opportunity is realistic for the council's systems and infrastructure.

3. Data

The more data a council shares, the better the outcome. Every assessment includes a structured data request, and the business case is only as strong as the information behind it - contact volumes, case numbers, processing times, staff hours.

Quality matters as much as volume. A smaller set of accurate, well-understood figures will produce a more credible business case than a large set nobody quite trusts. Where data is patchy, that is a finding in itself, and often an early opportunity.

4. Approach

Real use cases, brought to life. Abstract conversations about AI rarely move anyone. Workshops built around real use cases - and sessions where teams get hands-on with real AI technology - are where scepticism turns into curiosity and ideas start to flow.

Benefits realisation from day one. Every opportunity is costed with a clear view of how the benefit will be realised, so that the council isn't left with a list of good ideas and no way to bank them.

Working with your other technology partners. Councils already have suppliers for housing, revenues, social care and more. An AI plan that ignores them won't survive contact with reality. The best assessments bring those partners into the picture early, so the plan works with the systems the council already depends on.

5. Governance

This is the area I care about most, and where my own background shapes my view. Councils hold some of the most sensitive information about the most vulnerable people in their communities. Getting AI right means doing it ethically, and taking a risk-based approach from the start.

In practice, that means three things.

Ethics built in. Governance can't be bolted on at the end. Every opportunity in an assessment is considered through an ethical lens, with clear human oversight wherever a decision affects a resident.
A risk register that's ready to use. One of the things councils value most is coming out of the assessment with a ready-made risk register for their AI programme, rather than having to build one from scratch.
Flexibility as things change. AI is moving quickly. Governance that works for today's tools has to be able to flex as capability grows, without starting again every time a new model arrives.

What about jobs?

It's often the first question staff ask, and it deserves a direct answer. As my colleague Aneeq shared our recent SMART: AI Assessments webinar, none of our assessment reports has resulted in compulsory or voluntary redundancies at any authority, and none of our reports have recommended them - despite identifying millions of pounds of savings.

The focus is on releasing capacity - taking repetitive admin off stretched teams so they can spend more time on the work that needs a person - alongside improving services and finding cashable savings. In councils where vacancies are hard to fill and demand keeps rising, that capacity is often worth as much as the savings themselves.

What makes a great assessment

If I had to boil all of this down into a checklist for a council about to start, it would be four things:

Decision-makers in the room, so that opportunities can be weighed and prioritised there and then.
A senior sponsor who can open doors - to services, to data and to the people who need to be involved.
Responsive data provision, so the business case is built on your numbers rather than assumptions.
Candid, open workshops, where people feel able to say what's really happening, including what isn't working.

None of these require a council to be "AI-ready" before it starts. They require commitment, openness and the right people. Get those right and the assessment becomes the start of a programme your whole council can get behind.

If you'd like to talk about what an assessment could look like for your council, we'll come and meet your SLT in person.

Discuss an AI Assessment or watch the full webinar on demand.