Briefly describe the initiative/ project/service; please include your aims and objectives

Lancashire County Council (LCC) launched a council-wide Generative AI enablement initiative in 2025 with the bold aim of transforming critical public services through innovation. In partnership with Microsoft and guided by our Digital Strategy, we embedded Microsoft 365 Copilot (an AI assistant) into daily workflows across Children’s Social Care, Education & SEND, Adult Social Care, and Corporate Support Services. The objective was clear: deliver better outcomes for residents, communities, and staff by automating routine paperwork and enhancing decision-making. Co-designed with practitioners and professionals, the initiative was built around real operational needs – aligning AI tools with social work practice, education planning, and back-office processes – to ensure technology meaningfully supports staff and enhances their ability to deliver excellent services.

This people-centric approach created a shared commitment to change and directly supports the “Transforming & Innovating Public Services” ethos of this award. Leadership sponsorship from day one provided a mandate to innovate, helping overcome early scepticism and to embed digital innovation organisation-wide as a core part of service delivery. In summary, the initiative’s aim is to reimagine public service delivery with AI – accelerating workflows, improving quality, and enabling staff to spend more time with those in need – thereby enhancing services and lives across Lancashire.

What are the key achievements?

The initiative has achieved significant, measurable impact, exceeding our initial expectations. Over 1,300 employees – from social workers to support officers – now use the advanced version of Copilot (Microsoft 365 Copilot) purposefully as part of their daily work, with even more (over 3,500) actively using the lite-version (Copilot Chat). This remarkable level of uptake has provided a robust foundation for future progress, positioning us to unlock even greater benefits throughout the organisation.

Lancashire’s broad adoption far surpasses typical pilot projects and demonstrates strong buy-in. Preliminary analysis estimates that with a continued, targeted rollout, we will save a significant number of staff hours per year on routine tasks. Every hour not spent on paperwork is an hour reinvested into front-line services – social workers now have more time to visit families, and officers can focus on prevention and planning. These efficiency gains will dramatically improve productivity, offsetting the additional expenditure required for licensing and demonstrating value.

Crucially, the initiative has also improved service quality and speed. For example, in Children’s Services the time to produce high-quality Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) has been halved, meaning families receive vital support plans much faster. In Adult Social Care, compiling information for case reviews now takes 50% less time, allowing urgent cases to be addressed more promptly. These faster processes enable earlier interventions and better outcomes for vulnerable children and adults. Consistency and accuracy of documentation have improved as well – AI-generated case notes and reports are more uniform and error-free, boosting compliance with standards and confidence in decisions. Frontline staff report higher job satisfaction and reduced burnout because AI has lightened their administrative burden. Notably, what used to be onerous tasks – like writing lengthy assessments or transcribing meeting minutes – are now completed in minutes by Copilot, eliminating backlogs in areas like referrals and record-keeping.

This initiative has thereby fully met and even exceeded its objectives; it has empowered staff to embrace emerging technology, it has improved the quality and timeliness of services, and it is set to deliver substantial efficiency savings – all while maintaining or enhancing service outcomes. The scale of impact (enterprise-wide adoption and significant staff hours saved) is unprecedented for a local authority AI project, underlining Lancashire’s success in transforming services through innovation.

How Innovative is your initiative?

Our initiative is innovative in both what it delivers and how it was delivered. It represents one of the first large-scale targeted deployments of generative AI across multiple, complex public service functions in local government, truly pushing the boundaries of how councils can operate. Rather than a typical IT rollout, we adopted a creative, people-first design. Co-production with frontline staff was at the heart of the initiative – practitioners helped design AI prompts to fit their workflows, ensuring the tools solved real problems (like speeding up case note writing) and felt natural to use. This approach was novel and challenging, but it built tremendous trust and engagement; staff became partners in innovation rather than passive recipients. We also challenged the status quo by integrating AI into complex, high-stakes areas (e.g. SEND, Mental Health. Deprivation of Liberty Safeguarding), which many organisations might have been too cautious to attempt. By doing so responsibly, we demonstrated that even critical public services can be innovated safely.

Our use of Microsoft 365 Copilot was itself cutting-edge – through our strategic partnership with Microsoft, we were able to leverage specialist prompt engineering expertise alongside adoption and change specialists. This enabled us to design purposeful prompts tailored specifically to our business workflows, ensuring that the tools were seamlessly integrated into daily practice and directly addressed frontline needs. As a result, LCC has become a pioneer user of generative AI in the public sector, not just by adopting new technology, but by embedding it in a way that delivers meaningful impact.

We didn’t simply deploy the tool; we targeted specific use cases like summarising complex case histories, drafting assessments, and automating meeting minutes, which had never been done before at this scale in our sector. The initiative also took calculated risks; we moved rapidly, implementing across multiple service areas over the past eight months, and we addressed potential risks via a robust Responsible AI Framework from the start. Establishing an AI Steering Group and ethical guidelines early on was an innovative governance approach that allowed us to push technological boundaries safely, balancing innovation with public accountability.

Additionally, our change management strategy was creative – we set up a network of “Copilot Champions” in teams to support peers and share best practices, and used gamified learning to spark excitement. This fostered a grassroots movement of tech adoption, something quite new in local government. In summary, our initiative is innovative not only because it leverages state-of-the-art AI, but because it reimagined the implementation model – co-design, rapid scaling, cross-departmental reach, public-private collaboration, and a responsible ethical framework – to achieve a transformative outcome. Lancashire’s AI Enablement Journey has set a new benchmark for creative and bold problem-solving in public services, and even Microsoft has pointed to LCC’s approach as a model of public sector innovation.

What are the key learning points?

Our journey with Generative AI offers a wealth of valuable insights that can inspire and guide other public sector organisations seeking to innovate:

• Put People First: The most important lesson is that technology must serve real user needs. By co-designing with practitioners and focusing on frontline pain points from the beginning, we achieved high adoption and impact. Lesson: Engage your staff early, listen to their insights, and co-create solutions – bringing them on the journey with you not only builds ownership, but also ensures the innovation actually improves working practices, and isn’t just technology for technology’s sake.
• Executive Sponsorship and Vision: Strong leadership backing was critical for success. LCC’s senior leaders set a clear vision for AI-powered transformation and actively championed it, which helped overcome fear of change and created a supportive culture. Lesson: Secure buy-in from the top and communicate a compelling vision. Visible support from executives gives the initiative credibility, empowers teams to take risks, and aligns the whole organisation with the change.
• Start Small, Show Value, Then Scale: We learned to demonstrate quick wins and use them as a springboard for broader rollout. Early successes (like dramatically reducing the time for a single DoLS assessment) proved the concept and built momentum for expansion. Lesson: Pilot new tools on a small scale to prove their worth, gather feedback, and refine your approach. Use positive results, testimonials and showcases to drive wider adoption across other departments.
• Build Digital Confidence and Skills: Training and change management are as vital as the technology. We invested in workshops, hands-on training, and a “champions” network to support colleagues. This peer support system helped colleagues overcome hesitancy and share tips, promoting a culture of mutual learning. Lesson: Equip your workforce with the digital literacy skills and support needed to use AI effectively – assess varying levels of digital confidence, provide targeted training, and consider identifying tech-savvy staff to mentor others. Celebrating even small wins can further build skills and boost overall confidence.
• Governance and Ethics Matter: Another key insight is that innovation must be responsible. By setting up an AI Steering Group, publishing a Gen AI Policy and a Responsible AI framework from the outset, we addressed data privacy, security, and ethical use proactively. This provided clarity and assurance for staff, service users, and the residents that the new tools were safe and aligned with our values. Lesson: Don’t treat governance as an afterthought – establish clear ethical guidelines, transparency, and oversight early. This not only manages risks but also builds trust, which is essential for staff and stakeholder buy-in when deploying AI in the public sector.
• Measure Impact and Adapt: We continuously measured usage and outcomes (like time saved, quality improvements, user feedback) to understand what worked and where to adjust. For instance, we learned which teams were slower to adopt and provided them extra support. Lesson: Use data and feedback loops to guide your implementation. Be ready to iterate – some use cases will yield big gains, others may need tweaking or might not pan out. Flexibility and learning from failure (“fail fast, learn faster”) are crucial to innovative projects.
• Scalability and Knowledge Sharing: We designed our approach to be scalable and replicable. The principles – co-design, strong governance, cross-functional teamwork – can be applied in any service area. Our journey can be used as a blueprint for other councils, proving its replicability. We have been open in sharing our story through networks and events so others can learn from our experience. Lesson: When innovating, think beyond your organisation. Document your approach, gather evidence of impact, and share best practices with peers. This not only helps others but also positions your organisation as a leader and attracts external ideas and support.

In essence, our key learning is that successful public service innovation is 20% about the technology and 80% about people, process, and culture. By focusing on the human side of AI and maintaining a responsible mindset, we turned a cutting-edge idea into a sustainable, scalable reality that others can model their AI enablement journey on.

Additional Comments

Our journey is also influencing the wider sector; Microsoft has highlighted Lancashire as a model for other local authorities, and have invited us to share our story on the global stage at the Microsoft AI Tour in London, reflecting our success.

We believe our initiative demonstrates a step-change in public service delivery; councils can achieve dramatic improvements in efficiency and outcomes by pairing cutting-edge technology with a clear vision, empowered staff, and a targeted approach.