One year on my research suggests that chatbots are still not currently widely used in local government. At present around 14% of councils in UK and Ireland provide a chatbot facility and an equal number of councils choose to use webchat as use chatbots (see the table below):
| Council type | Councils using Webchat – 2024 | Webchat – change from 2023 | Councils using Chatbots – 2024 | Chatbots -change from 2023 |
| English District | 26 | +5 | 14 | +2 |
| English Non-Unitary | 1 | -1 | 6 | -1 |
| English Unitary | 11 | -4 | 20 | +1 |
| London Borough | 3 | -1 | 4 | +1 |
| Irish City | 0 | -1 | 1 | 0 |
| Irish County | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Irish Unitary | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Northern Irish | 1 | 0 | 2 | +1 |
| Scottish Unitary | 7 | +2 | 6 | +2 |
| Welsh Unitary | 0 | 0 | 5 | -1 |
| Total | 49 | -3 | 57 | +5 |
Availability of chatbots on council websites
Over half of the councils with chatbots choose to place them on all web pages and under half only place them on the service pages that they relate to. Chatbot usage is probably improved by being on all pages, but if it can’t adequately answer service sitewide queries then its not worth adding across the website.
| Are chatbots added to all web pages? | Yes | No |
| Number of councils | 35 (60%) | 23 (40%) |
Chatbot help pages
There are only small number of examples of help pages about chatbots. Relatively few councils explain why they have introduced chatbots, what they cover and how they can be used. As councils are often trialling chatbot functionality this content is important as it helps to promote its use.
| Is a chatbot help page provided? | Yes | No | Not known |
| Number of councils | 14 (25%) | 42 (72%) | 2 (3%) |
Chatbot description
The description given to a chatbot varies from council to council. Some call them chatbots while others refer to them as digital, smart or virtual assistants. In one council it was introduced as a smart assistant and then as a chatbot. In another council it was referred to as both a smart assistant and as a virtual assistant. Some consistency on the description of the service across councils might be useful.
Chatbot naming
Some councils have chosen to give their chatbot a name, perhaps in an attempt to give it a personality or make it feel less robotic (see the table below).
| Chatbot name | Council |
| AB-1 | Aberdeen City Council |
| Abbot | Argyle and Bute Council |
| Ada | Aberdeenshire Council |
| AiDA | Cheshire West and Chester Council |
| Aimee | Rother District Council |
| Ask Barnet | Barnet Council |
| B-Bot | Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council |
| Bailey | Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council |
| Basil | Coventry City Council |
| Beth | Torfaen County Borough Council |
| BOB | Broxbourne Council |
| BOBi | Cardiff Council |
| Bobbie | Breckland Council |
| Cecilia | Cheshire East Council |
| Darcie | Derby City Council |
| ELLIS | Lewes and Eastbourne Councils |
| Fiona | Fife Council |
| Impy | Lincolnshire County Council |
| Ker-Know | Cornwall Council |
| LAILA | Stratford-on-Avon District Council |
| Max | Lewisham Council |
| Max | Swindon Council |
| Mona | Isle of Anglesey |
| Monty | Monmouthshire County Council |
| Nelly | North Norfolk District Council |
| Nova | North Hertfordshire District Council |
| Oggie | Bridgend County Borough Council |
| Owlbot | Leeds City Council |
| Ria | Derry City and Strabane District Council |
| SARA | Lichfield District Council |
| Sur-i | Slough Borough Council |
| Tom | Telford & Wrekin Council |
| Vira | Calderdale Council |
| WALIS | Walsall Council |
Chatbot service topics
One of the key purposes of a chatbot on council website is to try to answer frequently asked questions. This helps to reduce the load on a customer services team, but also helps customers by saving them the time and effort of phoning up or trying to find an answer on the website.
In this section I have identified the main services that councils have signposted on their chatbots. Bins and recycling is the most popular service in this respect, largely because it is the service that perhaps generates the most queries from customers. Council tax, benefits, planning and parking are also popular chatbot service topics.
I will continue to update the webchat and chatbot Airtable below as and when I find out about any changes. Please do check out the Extensions section of the Airtable as this enables you to search and visualise the data presented on the database.
If you spot any errors or want to report any changes please do get in contact.