Government-built AI ‘Consult’ Saves Thousands of Staff Days

A government-built AI tool has dramatically sped up the analysis of large public consultations, saving officials tens of thousands of hours of manual work.

The AI system, Consult, was developed within the UK Government’s Humphrey suite of AI technologies. It was recently used to analyse more than 50,000 responses to the Independent Water Commission’s review of the water sector, which informed the decision to abolish Ofwat.

The tool grouped thousands of free-text consultation responses into key themes in around two hours, at a cost of just £240. Human experts then spent 22 hours reviewing and validating its output – a process that would otherwise have taken weeks of manual sorting, said the government.

According to the Cabinet Office, Consult achieved agreement with human analysts 83 percent of the time, compared with 55 percent agreement between two human teams doing the same task manually.

The technology is being positioned as a major productivity gain for policy teams across government. Officials estimate that AI-assisted analysis could save 75,000 staff days a year currently spent on manual consultation analysis, equivalent to around £20 million in staffing costs.

“This shows the huge potential for technology and AI to deliver better and more efficient public services, and provide better value for the taxpayer,” said Digital Government Minister Ian Murray.

“By taking on the basic admin, Consult is giving staff time to focus on what matters – taking action to fix public services. In the process, it could save the taxpayer hundreds of thousands of pounds.”

Building an AI-Enabled Policy Function

Consult is part of a broader government AI programme known as Humphrey, designed to build secure, in-house digital tools to support civil servants’ day-to-day work.

Another tool in the suite, Redbox, previously helped more than 5,000 officials summarise documents and draft briefings. Although Redbox has now been open-sourced and development on it has ceased, its underlying technology has informed newer projects – including GOV.UK Chat, the upcoming generative AI assistant to be trialled in the GOV.UK App.

Consult has already been used in several major policy exercises, including the Scottish Government’s consultation on non-surgical cosmetics and the Digital Inclusion Action Plan. In each case, the AI helped teams rapidly identify emerging themes and prioritise areas for detailed human review.

Engineers from the Humphrey programme are now working on several new ‘AI Exemplar’ projects, which will explore the use of AI to speed up planning decisions, support probation officers, and improve frontline delivery across departments.

The Cabinet Office says the aim of the Humphrey programme is to create “a more agile, effective state” by applying AI to routine, high-volume administrative work, freeing up policy professionals to focus on insight and action.