Swindon Borough Council
Swindon Council's Magic Notes pilot cuts social workers' admin time by 63 per cent
Swindon Borough Council ran a three-month pilot of Beam's Magic Notes AI tool with 19 adult social workers and one support officer. The council reports a 63 per cent cut in the time spent on assessments and case notes. Write-ups of assessments fell from four hours to one hour 30 minutes.
Key figures
Copied exactly from the sources. Copy any figure with its citation.
63
per cent
Cut in social workers' time on assessment preparation and case-note logging, as the council states it (pilot, April to July 2024)1
one hour 30 minutes to 35 minutes
Average time to conduct a Care Act conversation, before and during the pilot1
four hours to one hour 30 minutes
Time taken to write up these assessments, before and during the pilot1
184
Frontline meetings covered by the pilot1
What it took
The problem
Social workers spend a large share of their time on paperwork. Swindon Borough Council said that time takes them away from person-centred care, which the Care Act 2014 requires councils to promote. The council said the burden weighs more on staff who have learning difficulties or other legally protected characteristics.
What they built
The council piloted Magic Notes, an AI tool from Beam, a social enterprise that builds technology for frontline workers. The tool records conversations between social workers and the people they support and generates a detailed assessment. The council says data is stored securely in the UK. The council's release does not say which AI model sits behind the tool.
How they did it
The pilot ran in the Adult Social Care department from April to July 2024. Nineteen social workers and one leadership support officer used it across 184 frontline meetings. These included Care Act assessments, Mental Capacity Assessments and other supporting conversations. The council then signed a new six-month contract with Beam and said it was considering next steps.
Results
The council reports that time spent on assessments and case notes fell by 63 per cent. The average Care Act conversation fell from one hour 30 minutes to 35 minutes, and writing up the assessment fell from four hours to one hour 30 minutes. The council also says the tool helped colleagues with learning difficulties, visual impairments, and those whose first language is not English.
Community Care, a trade outlet, passed on two of the council's task-time figures (90 to 35 minutes, and four hours to one and a half hours) as Swindon data, but not the 63 per cent figure. It also reported that, in a Turing Institute evaluation of three councils, practitioners noted inaccuracies and assumptions that needed editing.
What to copy
Time the same tasks before and during the pilot, report them in plain units, and publish the result. Pair any time-saving claim with a rule that staff check and own every generated record.
Lessons for your project
Run a time-boxed pilot on real work and record the same task times before and during it. Swindon reports task times, not only staff opinion.
Include staff with different needs. Swindon says the tool helped colleagues with dyslexia, visual impairments or English as a second language.
Keep a human check on every record. Practitioners in a separate evaluation said they would not paste a summary into an assessment unchecked, because it could add assumptions.
Decide what saved time is for. Social work bodies asked whether time freed up goes to relationships or to larger caseloads.
Caveats
- The headline figures are the council's own, from a press release dated 1 October 2024. The release does not say how time was measured or how many cases were timed.
- Community Care (February 2025) passed on the two task-time figures as Swindon data but not the 63 per cent figure, so the headline rests on the council's own statement and the case is marked company-reported.
- The release does not name the AI model behind Magic Notes, so the model is shown as undisclosed. Beam, the tool's maker, is not in the model registry.
- The 63 per cent figure covers the time spent compiling assessments and logging case notes. It is not a saving across all work. The pilot lasted about three months with 20 staff.
- A separate evaluation by the Alan Turing Institute, commissioned by Beam and covering Swindon, Barnet and Camden, reported that practitioners saw saved time and better direct work but also noted inaccuracies and assumptions in summaries that needed editing.
- The council's source says the pilot ran from April to July 2024. It does not say whether Magic Notes remained in use beyond the new six-month contract.
Sources
- Council completes AI trial to enhance Adult Social Care services
Swindon Borough Council · 2024-10-01 · Press release · swindon.gov.uk
- AI tool improves direct work in adult social care despite accuracy concerns, practitioners report
Community Care · 2025-02-10 · News · communitycare.co.uk
Summarized in our own words from the sources above. Spotted an error? See corrections.