UK public bodies face surge of AI-generated complaints

Surge in AI-generated correspondence

UK public bodies are reporting a sharp increase in AI-generated complaints, information requests and legal challenges, according to The Guardian. Hollie Wickens, a senior caseworker in a Labour MP’s office, said: “Half the emails we receive are some form of AI,” adding that this has made requests and complaints much more complex and time-consuming to read and deal with.

Deborah Evans, chief executive of Lawyers in Local Government (LLG), which represents 5,600 lawyers working in local authorities, said: “Every sector is experiencing very similar issues.” She said complaints that once averaged about two pages are now often 10 times longer, with the worst she knows of about 200 pages long.

Pressure on councils, MPs and employers

Local authorities are receiving surging numbers of complaints on issues from adult social care to missed bin collections and planning objections. Councillor Alessandro Georgiou, leader of Enfield council, said there has been a significant uptick in parking appeals.

The Information Commissioner’s Office found that many public authorities received more requests in 2025 and noted that AI-generated requests can be “very long, repetitive and contain unrelated comments or misdirected demands.” The ICO cautions that requests that appear to be drafted using AI and contain inaccuracies still need to be answered by humans.

MPs’ offices are also affected. Vonnie Sandlan, head of office for Labour MP Graeme Downie, said staff are “exhausted” and “working more hours than they are paid.” Lisa Gillmore, president of the GMB union’s MPs’ and peers’ staff branch, said: “AI is not lightening the load in MPs’ offices,” and that where offices keep their own figures, casework has doubled or more.

Employment tribunal claims opened between April and June rose 28% compared with a year earlier, representing 14,000 cases from single claimants, according to government figures. Open single claims reached 70,000 at the end of June.

Transport for London and possible responses

Transport for London received a record 4,769 freedom of information requests in 2025-26, a 5% increase on the previous peak in 2023-24. Its audit and assurance committee reported a “noted increase” in appeals that appeared to be generated by AI, which often contain highly technical and often inaccurate assertions and assumptions.

Some councils are exploring responses. Wiltshire council is exploring using AI tools to summarise long emails and draft initial responses, while a committee at Stroud district council has discussed using Microsoft’s Copilot to help with writing reports. Some ombudsman services are imposing word limits for complaints or designing online templates to restrict attachments.

Why it matters

The surge is adding pressure to councils, MPs’ offices, schools, courts and employers at a time of already stretched budgets and case backlogs. Evans warned that every pound spent on dealing with complaints is a pound not spent on something else, and researchers have suggested authorities could make it harder to submit requests or charge fees, though no national policy has been announced.

Sources

• theguardian.com: ‘AI clog’: UK public bodies battle onslaught of chatbot-generated complaints | AI (artificial intelligence) | The Guardian
• tradersunion.com: UK public bodies face rising workload from AI-generated complaints

This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.