Unlocking AI’s potential in children’s social care

I recently had the pleasure of joining over 200 professionals at an event hosted by North Yorkshire Council , aimed at sparking new thinking in adult and children's social care about how AI tools can support better outcomes.

It was well worth the trip to Harrogate. There were inspiring presentations on how AI is already being implemented: Beam showcased their Magic Notes product, currently being trialled in several local authorities; while Jonny Hoyle demonstrated the knowledge mining tool (webinar #12 & #13), which emerged from Coram’s Innovation Incubator and developed with support from Microsoft and DfE funding, and Policy Buddy (webinar #16), developed by our partners at Engine AI. Scroll to the end of this article to watch the webinars now and visit our website to watch more.

One standout moment was hearing from Stuart Carlton , Corporate Director of North Yorkshire’s Children and Young People's Service, who is already encouraging his senior management team to use AI. He shared a compelling vision: to flip the traditional 80:20 rule, freeing up social workers to spend 80% of their time directly supporting children, families, and adults rather than being bogged down in administrative tasks; and he sees AI as a significant enabler to achieving that vision. He rightly challenged the notion that using AI is “cheating,” framing it instead as a public service duty to explore ways of delivering more effective, efficient services. Ignoring AI’s potential, he said, would be negligent.

This leadership is exactly what’s needed. Giving staff permission—and encouragement—to explore AI is necessary to shift the culture. Yes, there were concerns, but the overall enthusiasm was contagious. The key, of course, is ensuring we use AI safely and responsibly, recognising its limitations alongside its strengths.

At Coram, we're focusing on AI to reduce the time spent on low-value, high-effort tasks. Tools like Magic Notes promise to lessen the burden of case recording, while the Policy Buddy trial has already shown real results: reducing time spent searching for relevant information, improving consistency in the application of policies and procedures, and becoming an indispensable staff tool. Coram’s Playbook Assistant is an AI tool that anyone can use to explore the different innovation projects in children’s social care.

Yet, the social care sector still seems to be playing catch-up. AI isn’t even mentioned in the agenda at this year’s NCAS Conference, which suggests that many leaders still aren’t aware of how AI will transform their world. Meanwhile, the DfE is commissioning training materials for AI use in education, but we see no equivalent in children’s social care.

There will always be pioneers and followers, but with the pace of AI development, traditional adoption curves may leave the followers far behind. The time to engage with AI is now.

If you would like to find out more about the work that Coram is doing, sign up to our Innovation newsletter, or better still become a member of our Innovation Incubator.