St Helens Borough Council rolls out innovative AI tool to 450 frontline staff

Article date: 26 November 2025

Called 'Magic Notes', the tool uses generative AI to turn meeting recordings into detailed assessments and case notes. Users can also combine documents, recordings, and even handwritten notes to create customised reports, including Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs).  

The council initially piloted Magic Notes from November 2024 to January 2025 with 17 practitioners across the Occupational Therapy, Adult and Children's Social Care teams. During the pilot, they reported weekly time savings of around 3.7 hours and were able to submit reports and assessments 71 per cent faster.  

In addition to the time savings, 82 per cent of staff reported an improvement in the quality of conversations and the information captured, as they could focus more on the person receiving care rather than manual note-taking. As a result, 93 per cent of pilot staff wanted to continue using the tool. 

 Following the successful trial, Magic Notes has been rolled out to 450 frontline staff across the council. They have already made over 5,000 recordings, and 28 practitioners have used the tool's 'Reports' function to create 249 EHCPs. (Education, Health and Care Plan) 

 All frontline staff complete training before using Magic Notes to ensure proper use. The tool is designed as an aid, not a replacement for a professional's observations or judgment. Managers also receive separate training to help embed good practice, and practitioners are prompted to seek consent before every recording. 

Councillor Keith Laird, St Helens Borough Council's Cabinet Member for People, Performance and IT, said:

"This is a fantastic example of how we're embracing technology to improve services for residents. By reducing the time our frontline teams spend on admin, we're enabling them to focus on what really matters - delivering high-quality, person-centred care. Magic Notes is helping us modernise the way we work while keeping people at the heart of everything we do - as a council working with you for you."

Carole Alkers, a team manager in Children and Young People's Services at St Helens Borough Council, said: "Magic Notes has been exceptionally valuable. It allows social workers to spend less time on admin tasks and more time with children and families, which is our core mission. It's also led to much better and more reflective supervision. Honestly, this has become part of my daily practice and should definitely be used to support recruitment to the role." 

Tom Howard, Head of Service for SEND, Inclusion and Intervention at St Helens Borough Council, said: "The tool is being used by our team of SEND Caseworkers in the drafting of Education, Health and Care Plans, (EHCPs) and is proving a significant timesaver. This in turn has led to improvements in both the timeliness and quality of assessments, with Caseworkers having more time to speak to our young people and their families to make sure their EHCPs are person-centred, accessible and a true reflection of their aspirations."   

Lisa Birtles, Assistant Director Contact Cares Operations and Independent Living said "Magic Notes is revolutionising the way we practice, allowing for more meaningful and person focussed interactions with the residents and carers of the borough" 

 Magic Notes was developed by the social impact company Beam, which estimates the tool could save UK social workers collectively some 50 million hours annually and save taxpayers more than £1bn. 

 Seb Barker, co-founder and COO of Beam, said: "We developed Magic Notes because we saw first-hand from our own team of caseworkers, the need to free frontline teams from their desks and mountains of admin. AI gives us the opportunity to get practitioners back on the frontline, where they want to be, and where they do the most meaningful work. We've also built Magic Notes with data protection and service user consent at its heart, because it really has been built by frontline workers, for frontline workers." 

 ENDS