New AI tool launched to free up time for frontline social workers

A new AI tool that saves each frontline social worker at least four hours a week by taking admin-intensive tasks off their hands is being rolled out by Kingston Council.

The tool, called Magic Notes, is being made available to the council’s social work and occupational therapist practitioners. It has been designed and tailored specifically for their work and early signs are showing that it is saving them up to four hours a week on administrative tasks.

Magic Notes has been developed by social enterprise, Beam, with extensive input from frontline workers. It uses AI to create reports and case notes from recordings of regular meetings between social workers and their clients.

In a pilot run by Kingston Council, it has reduced the time that frontline workers spent on admin tasks by 63 per cent and is also very useful for staff who have dyslexia. It is now being rolled out to a further 100 social workers across the council’s Adult Social Care Services.

Councillor Sabah Hamed, Portfolio Holder for Adult Social Care and Public Health, said: "We want to equip our staff with the latest digital technology and confidence to use it, so that they can spend more time with people they work with and ensure they are always at the heart of what we do.”

Helen, a Senior Social Worker, said: “I got into social work because I wanted to support people. When I am completing an assessment, review or any other interaction with people I support, Magic Notes allows me to maintain eye contact, listen accurately and critically reflect in the moment and it means that I don't have to worry about taking notes. As well as allowing me to focus on the person, Magic Notes provides me with a really accurate and detailed record and summary for me to review. It frees up time for me to focus on complex cases care, planning and the social workers in the team that I supervise.”

Beam has directly supported more than 4,500 people into homes and jobs and builds tools to transform frontline productivity.

Seb Barker, Co-founder and Chief Operations Officer at Beam, said: “We developed Magic Notes because we saw first-hand, from our own team of caseworkers, that frontline workers were tied to their desks by a huge mountain of admin and paperwork. AI gives us the opportunity to free them up to get back on the frontline, where they want to be, and do the most meaningful work.”