UK public sector IT teams say AI is shifting workload, not reducing it

TL;DR:

• A SolarWinds survey of global IT professionals reports that 56% of public sector respondents say AI has made their roles more demanding, and 74% say AI is changing how teams operate without reducing overall workload.
• Nine in ten (90%) public-sector organisations describe their systems as fragmented across platforms; 59% say clearer AI policies and guardrails would help teams adapt; 32% report higher cognitive load.
• Resultsense view: the survey echoes the operational reality this week’s other UK public-sector AI stories implied — Liz Kendall’s sovereignty rhetoric and the Home Office’s contested asylum-AI transparency posture both depend on IT teams that are clearly stretched, not freed up by the technology yet.

The findings, summarised by THINK Digital Partners, point to a familiar adoption pattern: AI is being deployed across the UK public sector in pursuit of “do more with less”, but is layering complexity onto already complex IT estates rather than displacing legacy workload.

Where the strain is showing

Three data points stand out. First, 56% of public-sector IT respondents say AI has made their roles more demanding — meaning oversight, validation and governance burdens are rising in step with deployment. Second, 90% describe their systems as fragmented across platforms, which makes consistent AI implementation harder regardless of departmental ambition. Third, only 35% report that cognitive load has actually fallen in some areas while rising in others, with 32% saying it has unambiguously gone up.

The skills picture is consistent with the workload picture. SolarWinds reports that the most-demanded skills inside public-sector IT teams are now designing AI-driven workflows (50%), evaluating and validating AI outputs (43%), and interpreting AI-generated insights (42%) — a profile heavily oriented around AI judgement and oversight rather than implementation alone.

The framework gap

More than half (59%) of respondents say clearer AI policies and guardrails would help teams adapt. Skills shortages and insufficient training are flagged as the second-biggest expected challenge as IT automation broadens. Rich Giblin, SolarWinds’ head of public sector and defence, told the publication: “If adopting AI requires a major project, complex configuration or dedicated resource to manage it, then the effort hasn’t been reduced, it has just been moved.”

Why this lands now

This week’s parallel UK developments amplify the survey’s relevance. The ICO published guidance for public bodies handling AI-generated FOI requests, and is mid-consultation on automated-decision-making rules under the Data (Use and Access) Act. Border security minister Alex Norris confirmed the Home Office is using two new AI tools in asylum casework but does not disclose details to claimants. Both place real procedural demands on already-stretched IT and operational teams.

Looking forward

For UK public-sector chief digital officers, the survey is a useful negotiating artefact when budget conversations turn to AI ROI. The risk worth managing is the gap between political ambition — sovereign chips, sovereign data, AI-driven productivity — and the operational reality of cognitive load on the people implementing it. That gap is precisely where the next cycle of UK public-sector AI controversies will sit.