While much of the enterprise world is still in an experimental phase with AI—grappling with long tech refresh cycles, security concerns, and questions around ROI (see the AI Purgatory article recently published)—parts of the public sector in the UK are quietly making real, measurable progress.
We sat down with Katie Kemshell Head of Public Sector for Unified Communications at Charterhouse, a technology partner working across public sector verticals like local government, and her customer, Liam Abbott, from B&NES (Bath & North East Somerset Council).
Kemshell's insights reveal that, far from being stuck in bureaucratic slow lanes, some public institutions are embracing AI to drive tangible benefits, improve efficiency, and enhance services for citizens.
Local Government Takes the Lead
If there's a standout success story in the public sector's adoption of AI, it's local government. Despite extreme budget pressures—one in four UK councils is currently facing potential bankruptcy—many have seen AI not as a luxury but as a critical tool for survival and service improvement.
"The biggest surprise is that local government is our fastest growing vertical," Kemshell explains. "Even though they're facing financial crises, councils invest in AI, particularly contact center transformations.
The efficiencies they are gaining directly impact (positively) their ability to serve residents."
These AI-driven upgrades include advanced features like automated summarization, sentiment analysis, and conversational AI tools that help contact center agents better support the public. And crucially, it's not about slashing jobs.
B&NES is undergoing a sweeping transformation of its contact center operations, supported by Charterhouse and powered by Zoom.
At the heart of the project? Centralization, efficiency, and resident experience.
Liam Abbott, Head of Digital and Customer Experience at B&NES, commented, "We had 82 different telephone numbers listed on our website—four just for housing options alone. "We're moving to one number for the whole council. That's only possible because AI allows us to support generalist agents with deep knowledge access."
"It's not about headcount reduction. It's about freeing specialists like planning officers and social workers to do more high-value work. Why should a planning expert spend time telling someone how to submit a form when a generalist, backed by AI, can handle it instantly?"
Proving ROI
One of the common grumbles I hear from the enterprise space is that the ROI from AI deployments is unclear. With a strategy to not reduce headcount, I had to ask the question—where are the money savings here?
While hard savings are coming, the early ROI is mostly about cost avoidance. By increasing internal efficiency, you can prevent the need for expensive agency hires or external contractors.
"We're not going to cut our planning officers—we need them," Liam says. "But now they can focus on processing applications, not fielding basic queries. That's a huge time win."
Abbot says Zoom has also been surprisingly cost-effective.
"We're paying an incredibly low price for Zoom, and it includes all the AI we need. Some other vendors were charging way more just for AI capabilities. That pricing model made our decision much easier."
This philosophy is catching on. Councils like Derby are already running fully AI-powered voice bots. Theirs is called "Darcy," and it is handling up to 50% of their inbound calls without human agents—something B&NES plans to emulate in the coming year.
