From AI trial to council-wide confidence: How Renfrewshire transformed customer services

Overview

Residents expect simple, 24/7 access to local government customer services; while digital channels have expanded, the telephone remains a vital route for residents – particularly for urgent, complex or sensitive enquiries that genuinely require human support.

Renfrewshire Council has taken a practical, evidence-led approach to addressing this challenge. Following a controlled customer service AI trial, the council launched Millie, Scotland’s first AI-powered phone assistant, supporting residents around the clock while ensuring complex cases are handled by human advisors.

Since launch, the solution has answered hundreds of thousands of resident enquiries, the solution has already supported over 390,000 resident calls, demonstrating how AI can operate safely and effectively at scale, reduced pressure on contact centre teams, and built confidence to explore wider AI opportunities across the council.

The approach has also received national recognition through multiple service delivery and innovation awards, including: Overall “Council of the Year 2025 for Service Delivery” at the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) Awards, “Leading Innovation” award at the 2025 COSLA Awards, and the “Digital Public Services Award” at the Scottish Public Service Awards 2025.