A collaborative model to help councils reduce duplicated effort, strengthen decision-making, and accelerate practical AI adoption together.

Across local government, many councils are asking similar questions about AI, often separately.

• Where can AI add value safely?
• What should we prioritise first?
• How do we grow adoption and AI fluency within the workforce?
• How should governance be approached?
• What should be out of scope?

Too often, councils are spending time and money answering these questions in isolation.

We believe there is a better way.

A shared approach to moving forward

The Local Government AI Consortium brings together a small group of councils to share discovery, shape practical use cases, strengthen governance approaches and develop reusable outputs together.

Share the cost of discovery. Strengthen the quality of decisions. Accelerate practical adoption.

Participating councils can work together to:

• Reduce duplicated discovery effort
• Improve confidence in investment decisions
• Shape stronger requirements before procurement
• Reduce the risk of failed pilots
• Develop practical outputs that can be reused beyond the programme

Most councils are already moving on AI. The greater risk may now be moving without enough shared learning.

• 95% of councils are already using or considering AI.
• 83% are exploring generative AI.
• Yet up to 80% of pilots may fail to deliver value.

The Consortium is designed to share best practices and reduce the odds of failure.  

The Consortium's first focus area: releasing capacity in children’s social care

The inaugural cohort will focus on the pressing challenge of reducing administrative burden in children's social care.

The aim is not to automate professional judgement but instead to identify where Microsoft Copilot agents may help reduce administrative friction and release capacity back into frontline practice.

From the work we have delivered in Local Government, we believe the opportunities align to specific themes. The inaugural cohort will focus on the pressing challenges in these areas:

• Supporting service delivery
• Managing demand
• Strengthening governance and assurance
• Automating processes
• Enabling better decision points

What participating councils receive

A structured programme designed to produce practical outputs, including:

• Discovery and value assessment
• Shared requirements and governance guardrails
• Technical options and roadmap outputs
• A reusable consortium knowledge pack

An intentionally small inaugural cohort

The first cohort is being kept small to support effective cross-council collaboration and shared progress.

Why Crimson

Crimson helps councils approach AI in a practical, governed and service-led way.

• Microsoft partner expertise supporting Copilot adoption
• Experience shaping AI use cases in local government
• Proven discovery and value assessment methods
• Practical approaches to responsible AI governance