Public bodies struggle to meet their legal commitments to reply, due to ‘rising tide’ of long, complex and auto-generated enquiries.
The promise of technology is that it makes our lives easier. Time-consuming tasks can be automated. These days, that includes making complaints. And that’s not making life easier for the people who have to respond.
A number of schools, councils and other public bodies say they are facing a ‘rising tide’ of AI-generated complaints. Deborah Evans, Chief Executive of Lawyers in Local Government, which represents 5,600 lawyers working in local authorities, told the BBC that AI had, ‘increased the number of trivial or unjustified complaints.’
What’s more, she said, ‘When AI gets involved, the complexity and length of that complaint ramps up enormously. A complaint could be between 19 and 27 pages, include case law and quote various Acts of Parliament.’
That’s a serious issue given that public bodies have targets and, in many cases, a statutory requirement to reply to complaints and enquiries within a set time. For example, bodies included within the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 must respond, ‘promptly and in any event not later than the twentieth working day following the date of receipt.’
In May, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) issued new guidance to support public authorities dealing with AI-generated FOI requests, acknowledging the ‘increase in the volume and complexity of requests generated using AI tools, including requests that misquote legislation or require significant clarification before they can be processed.’
So, what can be done?
Ian Roberts, Managing Director of tech company Granicus UK, tells us: ‘The rise in AI-generated complaints and information requests reflects a broader challenge across the public sector. While AI is making it easier for residents to engage with councils, it is also increasing the volume, complexity and speed of citizen interactions at a time when many public services are already under significant pressure.
‘The conversation needs to move beyond how citizens are using AI and focus on how public sector organisations can use it responsibly to manage growing demand while maintaining trust, transparency and service quality.
‘Our recent research found that 57% of public sector organisations are already embedding or experimenting with AI driven services, yet 69% of citizens are unaware that AI is being used in public services and nearly half (49%) say they are not comfortable with it. This highlights a growing gap between AI adoption and public understanding that risks undermining confidence if not addressed carefully.
‘Residents rightly expect quick, accurate and personalised responses, but councils cannot meet rising expectations simply by adding more resource. Public bodies need AI that has been designed specifically for government, with the right safeguards, governance and human oversight built in from the start. This not only allows them to reduce avoidable contact where possible, but it also enables staff to dedicate more time to improving the citizen experience and truly changing lives.
‘At Granicus, we’ve developed the Government Experience Agent (GXA) to help organisations safely manage increasing volumes of citizen enquiries by providing accurate, policy aligned responses based on approved information. Importantly, it enables councils to scale service delivery while retaining accountability, transparency and control. The challenge isn’t AI itself; it’s ensuring public services have the tools and frameworks to cope with a future where citizen engagement becomes easier, faster and more frequent.’
Photo: Nikko Macaspac / Unsplash
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