North Yorkshire Council Uses Leading AI's Policy Buddy Assistant to Save 2,421 Hours in Children's Services

According to Leading AI's case study, the first three months of Policy Buddy at North Yorkshire Council produced 849 users, 2,174 prompts and 2,421 hours saved. Policy Buddy is a digital assistant from Leading AI. The case study states the vision behind it as harnessing the capabilities of world class generative AI to provide instant, reliable knowledge support to frontline practitioners, reducing administrative burden and supporting confident decision-making. The case study describes the pressure behind the project: children's services across the UK face rising caseloads, increasingly complex needs and persistent staffing pressures. Social workers and managers report spending valuable hours searching for and interpreting policies, procedures and legislative frameworks, time that could go to direct work with children and families. North Yorkshire Council is the local authority and unitary council for North Yorkshire, England. The case study says Policy Buddy was born from a simple question: what if world class generative AI could provide instant, reliable knowledge support to frontline practitioners? A senior social work leader at the council said: "Blown away yesterday! I attended our Disabled Children’s Services team away day to talk to them about technology and innovation and to show them our Policy Buddy with Leading AI. The result was outstanding!!" At that away day, practitioners were given a complex case scenario involving a child with significant disabilities who required multi-agency support. The team first used traditional methods to identify relevant policies and legal frameworks, then used Policy Buddy. The case study says Policy Buddy's responses matched the knowledge of the most experienced practitioners in the room, and that the tool encouraged deeper discussion about how to apply the information to the specific circumstances of the case. Team members at the away day reported feeling more confident in their understanding of statutory requirements and better equipped to focus on the human aspects of their role. Leading AI states that Policy Buddy is not about automating social work decisions but about removing barriers to information so that professionals can apply their expertise more effectively and spend more time on relationship-based practice with children and families.