A council social services team is exploring established AI tools to streamline care recording, with emphasis on privacy, accessibility and multilingual support.
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Flintshire County Council is sounding out the market for established AI tools to support social care recording, with a strong focus on privacy, multilingual use and accessibility across devices, and a plan to embed the technology ahead of a new case management system.
On 12th February 2026, Flintshire published a prior information notice for AI solutions for social care. The notice, issued by Flintshire Social Services, makes clear that the council is looking at “established AI solutions” to improve how recording is done in social care.
The focus is not on experimenting with speculative tools, but on understanding what proven products can do for case recording. The aim is to reduce the effort involved in documenting work while preserving, and potentially improving, the quality of information captured.
Recording is a central part of social care practice, and the notice positions it as a key candidate for AI support. Rather than tying AI directly to a yet-to-be-implemented case management platform, the council wants to explore tools that can be embedded in day-to-day work first, then feed into a new system later.
The notice highlights four features that any AI solution will need to address:
Data privacy is prominent, reflecting the sensitivity of social care records. Any tool that automates or assists with recording will handle highly personal information, and the council’s wording underlines that privacy safeguards are not optional extras.
Multilingual support points to the linguistic diversity of people using social services, and to the needs of a workforce that may interact in more than one language. It also aligns with wider moves in the sector to ensure digital tools do not exclude those who need services in languages other than English.
Device accessibility signals that the council is thinking beyond office desktops. Social care staff work across homes, community settings and offices, and the notice indicates an interest in tools that function across different devices rather than locking AI into a single hardware environment.
Finally, the emphasis on high-quality audio capabilities suggests interest in tools that can reliably capture spoken interactions or notes. While the notice does not spell out a specific model, such as ambient scribing, it steers suppliers towards solutions that can handle complex audio in real-world conditions.
One notable aspect of the notice is its timing in relation to a new case management system. Flintshire states that it wants to embed AI technology “before the implementation of a new Case Management System”. That sequencing treats AI not as an afterthought, bolted onto an existing platform, but as something that should be in place and tested first.
This approach contrasts with other recent procurements that start with the core system. In November 2025, for example, Milton Keynes City Council launched a prior information notice for social care case management solutions, seeking options for a combined children’s and adults’ social care case management system. By comparison, Flintshire’s notice zeroes in on AI tools for recording processes as a precursor to its own new platform.
Other councils are also rethinking core systems with a view to future digital capabilities. In September 2025, Denbighshire County Council and other local authorities in Wales began market engagement on a registrars appointment booking and certificate management system to improve service delivery and efficiency. Together, these notices show councils using early engagement to shape how new systems will work with emerging tools like AI.
Flintshire’s interest in audio-ready AI tools for recording sits within a broader trend across health and care of using AI to support documentation.
In August 2025, Digital Health & Care Wales issued a prior information notice for ambient scribe solutions, seeking market intelligence on ambient voice technology to enhance general practice efficiencies and patient care. That notice framed voice-based AI as a way to free clinical time and improve the completeness of records.
Two months later, in October 2025, City of York Council published a prior information notice for an AI transcription tool to improve efficiency in children’s services and reduce administrative burdens. Like Flintshire, York’s notice concentrated on transcription as a discrete task where AI could have immediate impact.
Outside local government, similar ambitions are evident. On 20th August 2025, Medizinischer Dienst Rheinland-Pfalz in Germany advertised a contract for an AI tool for expertise creation, a generative AI system to transcribe audio files into structured expertise documents and support individual case assessments in care via a phased implementation.
In January 2026, the Consejería de Digitalización in Madrid launched a prior information notice for AI-based voice transcription services to handle medical consultations in primary care centres, including structured report generation and associated infrastructure and cloud solutions.
Taken together, these procurements show public bodies converging on a similar opportunity: using AI to capture, transcribe and structure complex professional interactions, whether in social care visits, medical consultations or children’s services. Flintshire’s notice brings that trend firmly into mainstream local authority social care.
Flintshire’s emphasis on data privacy and multilingual support connects directly to wider work on responsible and inclusive AI in care.
In November 2025, Social Care Wales awarded a contract for digital resources for AI in social care. The supplier will create concise, engaging materials in English and Welsh to promote safe and responsible use of AI among social care professionals. That contract underlines the need to pair new tools with clear guidance and learning.
Language access is also a recurring theme. In September 2025, Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council began pre-market engagement for translation and interpretation services, seeking feedback and innovative ideas from suppliers to shape an effective specification. Flintshire’s requirement for multilingual AI solutions sits squarely within this wider push to ensure services are usable across languages.
Other national bodies are simultaneously focusing on the safe deployment of AI within their own domains. On 2nd January 2026, the Office for Students issued a prior information notice on AI project delivery, looking to use its data platform to support AI and automation while upskilling data colleagues.
And on 13th February 2026, the Department for Education opened market engagement for AI tutoring tools development, seeking safe, curriculum-aligned tools that support disadvantaged pupils and enhance teaching while addressing key challenges and opportunities for collaboration.
In local government, Gateshead Council signalled similar ambitions in January 2026 with a prior information notice for an AI transformation partner, aiming to enhance operations, reduce costs and improve services through AI. The Department for Work and Pensions likewise, in February 2026, issued a prior information notice for a care service partnership opportunity to explore common technical capabilities and innovative solutions for its Care Service.
Together, these notices show AI moving from isolated pilots towards more systematic planning: developing guidance, building skills, and ensuring tools work for different languages, devices and user groups. Flintshire’s requirements on privacy, language and accessibility sit well within that emerging pattern.
The Flintshire notice is also part of a broader shift towards structured pre-market engagement before formal procurement.
Shropshire Council, for example, published a preliminary market engagement notice on 2nd February 2026 for community based care services, seeking insight from potential suppliers as it considers alternative procurement models in light of legislative change.
In the housing sector, Yorkshire Housing began a pre-market exercise in February 2026 for rents, service charges and asset management solutions ahead of procurement planned for March 2026.
Digital customer contact is another area where councils are testing AI through early dialogue. In December 2025, Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council published a notice exploring an AI telephony contact centre solution, potentially including chatbots, to enhance customer service and operational efficiency.
Flintshire’s prior information notice follows this pattern closely: testing the market, defining priorities such as privacy and accessibility, and building an understanding of what established AI products can deliver before locking in specifications for a future case management system.
The Flintshire notice is exploratory rather than a full tender, so the detail on scope, scale and budget is still to come. If the council moves to a formal procurement, future documentation is likely to clarify how AI tools for recording will integrate with its new case management system and how requirements on privacy, multilingual support and device accessibility will be enforced in contracts.
For suppliers, the message is that social care recording is emerging as a distinct market for established AI products, alongside health and customer contact. For commissioners, Flintshire’s move adds to a growing body of examples showing how early engagement can be used to shape realistic, safe and inclusive AI-enabled services.
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