Woking, Surrey, 05 January 2026 – Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council has partnered with digital transformation specialist Invuse to implement Arto, an AI-powered digital assistant designed to improve how residents, councillors and internal teams access council information.
Integrated across the council’s corporate website and its ModGov committee management system, Arto provides a single intelligent access point for service information, policy guidance and governance documents. The assistant went live in December 2025, supporting the council’s ambition to improve digital self-service and reduce avoidable demand on contact channels.
Tackling Rising Demand for Routine Information
Like many local authorities, Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council has experienced increasing demand through contact centres, emails and internal enquiries.
A large proportion of enquiries relate to information that already exists online, but traditional navigation and keyword search can make this information difficult to locate quickly. When users cannot find answers easily, they often switch to phone or email.
This can lead to:
- Increased contact centre calls
- Higher volumes of email enquiries to service teams
- Residents abandoning digital journeys
Across UK local government, it is estimated that up to 70% of customer contact relates to routine information requests that could potentially be resolved through effective digital self-service.
The council wanted to reduce this avoidable demand while making it easier for users to access information online.
Improving Access to Governance Information
The council also sought to improve how governance information is accessed by councillors, officers and the public.
Committee reports, minutes and decision papers are stored within ModGov, a widely used committee management system. While this information is publicly available, searching across multiple committees and years of meeting records can be time consuming.
Users often need to manually browse:
- Multiple committee sections
- Large document libraries
- Archived meeting records
Without a unified search experience, locating specific governance documents can require significant effort.
A Unified AI-Powered Information Access Point
To address these challenges, Invuse implemented Arto, an AI-powered assistant that allows users to retrieve information across multiple council systems through a single conversational interface.
The assistant is embedded directly within the council’s website and connected to the ModGov platform. Users can ask questions in plain English and receive immediate responses, with links to the relevant webpages or governance documents.
Arto supports users who are:
- Looking for council service information
- Searching for policies or guidance
- Trying to locate committee minutes or reports
The integration with ModGov enables AI-assisted search across governance records — something that can be difficult using traditional document search tools.
A Structured Implementation Approach
The deployment followed a structured implementation process to ensure accuracy, accessibility and usability.
Discovery and Planning
Workshops with council teams helped identify priority use cases for the assistant, including:
- Resident service enquiries
- Councillor document retrieval
- Governance and policy searches
Integration requirements for the website and ModGov systems were also defined during this stage.
Content Preparation and Knowledge Base Development
Existing website content and governance documentation were reviewed to ensure the assistant could provide accurate responses.
This included:
- Assessing content for AI compatibility
- Identifying gaps in information
- Improving content structure where required
A shared knowledge base was created to power both the website assistant and ModGov search experience.
AI Training and Configuration
Arto was configured to recognise council services, terminology and governance topics. The assistant learns how users phrase questions and maps those queries to trusted council information sources.
Integration and Testing
The assistant was integrated into the council’s digital platforms and tested across a range of scenarios, focusing on:
- Response accuracy
- Accessibility and usability
- WCAG 2.2 AA compliance
- Real-world user queries
Feedback from council teams was incorporated before launch.
Strategic Benefits
Reduced Contact Demand
By providing instant answers to common questions, the assistant helps residents resolve issues without needing to contact the council.
Across organisations using AI-powered support assistants, enquiry volumes can typically reduce by 25–30% once routine queries are automated.
This enables staff to focus on more complex cases that require human support.
Faster Access to Governance Documents
For councillors and officers, the integration with ModGov provides significant efficiency benefits.
Users can ask questions such as:
- “Show me the latest planning committee minutes”
- “Find reports on housing strategy”
The assistant returns the relevant documents instantly, reducing time spent navigating governance records.
Improved Digital Self-Service
Arto enables a more natural way for residents to interact with council services. Instead of navigating complex menus, users can ask questions in plain English and receive direct answers.
This improves:
- Information discoverability
- User confidence in digital services
- Engagement with online channels
Accessibility and Inclusive Design
Arto was implemented in line with WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility standards and works alongside assistive technologies such as screen readers.
Conversational interfaces can provide a more accessible experience for users who find traditional website navigation challenging.
Continuous Improvement Through Analytics
The assistant improves over time by analysing user interactions.
Usage analytics allow the council to:
- Identify the most common questions being asked
- Improve website content where users encounter difficulties
- Expand the assistant’s knowledge base over time
This creates a continuous improvement cycle where the digital service becomes more accurate and helpful with each interaction.
Jamie Garrett, Managing Director of Invuse, said:
“AI assistants are becoming an increasingly important part of modern public sector digital services. By integrating Arto with both the council website and ModGov, Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council has created a single, intelligent access point for information that benefits residents, councillors and internal teams alike.”
The project demonstrates how local authorities can use AI to improve digital self-service, increase transparency around council decision-making and reduce pressure on frontline services.
For further information, please contact:
Paul Zimmerman
Chief Communications Officer
press@invgroupholdings.com
+44 1483 672592