MPs need more expert caseworkers to meet rising demands – not a fleet of AI bots

MPs have been experimenting with using AI to deal with vast amounts of policy and casework (Alamy)

The new trend in Westminster is the litany of stories of MPs that are using AI to complete casework. MPs have been spotted using ChatGPT on the train and one MP has even created an AI bot of themselves.  

While AI will no doubt revolutionise our lives across all sectors from health to travel, economic growth, reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions to streamlining daily tasks, I believe human oversight will still be needed at the very heart of politics. 

In a PoliticsHome article about this very issue, my colleague Charlotte Nichols MP said: “We live in a culture where everyone wants everything within a day or two days. And sometimes it's not as straightforward as that. We need twice the amount of staff that we've got.” 

The need for greater staffing capacity for MPs is clear, and we need to be honest with the public that there should be additional funding made available to address key areas that require specialist knowledge. 

AI does not think, it computes. Politics is about the personal; and there is nothing more personal than our children. MPs’ offices need experts rather than tech and the biggest issue coming up in Parliament over the next few months will be SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) reforms brought forward by the government. 

The scale of local SEND challenges is so great that I employ a dedicated SEND specialist within my team. I believe I am a rarity in having such a specialist. 

Having served as a county councillor for more than a decade prior to being elected as an MP, I was acutely aware that SEND is a complex area of legislation.  

As the judiciary have stated themselves: “AI chatbots do not provide answers from authoritative databases and information you cannot verify independently.” However, while we have seen AI now used in court cases to speed up certain processes, this would miss the vital human element and trust that is needed in this area of work.

AI does not think, it computes... politics is about the personal

Families of children and young people with SEND already go above and beyond to care for them, often while trying to also support siblings, partners and holding down a job. 

Caseworkers need to be able to understand this and realise that, most often, families are approaching their MP as a last resort because they have tried everywhere else. They are so often at the end of their tether and simply want their child or young person to have the support they’d need to be able to access education. You are entering their world where they must fight to be heard, be acknowledged as the expert on their child or young person and be treated equally as every other individual involved in their case. They need compassion, understanding and support. Artificial intelligence lacks the emotional intelligence needed to provide this. 

My specialist caseworker can support families through mediation as well as guidance and emotional support with SEND Tribunals and disability discrimination cases. They must be able to respond to solicitors and a tribunal panel, including attendance at the hearings with the judge and SEND specialist. This is all while supporting parent carers who are normally terrified and often have not been through the court system before.  

Being an MP in the early part of the 20th century was seen as a vocation when the role was essentially self-funded. Those days are thankfully long gone, but the public expects us to deliver value for money, and rightfully so.  

Now, the role encompasses so many facets alongside expanding demands, dealing with more complex legislation and additional scrutiny – which is welcome. It is in part legislator, lawyer, councillor, social worker, and in some cases, a large chunk of communications and PR. Our small staff teams help us to achieve maximising our service to the public. 

From 1999 to 2021, the number of staff employed by MPs increased by 78 per cent. While the number of MPs remained the same, the workload and the complexity of the work involved has grown exponentially, especially since COVID. 

For context, in the 1950s and 1960s an MP received, on average, 12-15 letters per week. Most MPs now get well over 200 emails per day ranging from the ordinary and routine to those in desperate need of help with welfare rights, acquiring housing, or indeed SEND issues. 

To meet the increasing and more complicated demands from the public, MPs need to be better supported with specialist caseworkers – embracing real intelligence, rather than the artificial kind.

Terry Jermy is Labour MP for South West Norfolk

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