What AI Means For Paperwork In Britain’s Bureaucracy

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Complaints, Freedom of Information requests and employment tribunal claims have risen across several UK public services since ChatGPT launched, according to a Sky News report published October 20. The report, by technology correspondent Rowland Manthorpe, says the pattern is putting pressure on institutions that rely on people to explain problems through written submissions, although the figures do not prove that AI caused the increases.

Sky News reported increases across nine written-submission channels, comparing figures since ChatGPT’s November 2022 launch. Household complaints about water companies rose 144%, complaints about English local authorities rose 78%, and written complaints to GP practices rose 71%. Complaints to the Department for Work and Pensions increased 64%, while individual employment tribunal claims rose 62%. The report also listed increases in complaints about legal services, the NHS, police forces and public services.

Those percentages describe changes in each channel over the period examined; they do not establish that AI was responsible. The report notes that each area has its own possible drivers, including difficulties affecting water companies. It argues that the repeated pattern across otherwise different services — relatively flat numbers followed by rises after late 2022 — is consistent with AI making it faster and easier to prepare written submissions.

Manthorpe also tested 100 recent FOI requests with an AI-text detector. The tool labelled 89% fully AI-written and 9% human; a smaller 2019 sample was labelled entirely human. Sky News cautioned that this was not conclusive: AI detectors can be unreliable, and the test does not show that AI caused request volumes to grow.

Public Services Face More Written Claims

The reported rise matters because many public services still depend on letters, forms and essays to receive complaints, appeals and applications. If AI reduces the time and confidence required to write those submissions, institutions may face more work even when the underlying service or eligibility rules have not changed. Civil servants surveyed earlier this year said the resulting volume affects their work: 58% reported a significant impact from AI-generated content sent by the public, according to figures cited by Sky News.

More submissions do not automatically mean more frivolous claims. Sky News reported that the share of DWP complaints upheld has fallen from somewhere in the 50s to close to 40%. That is a lower proportion, but because the total number of complaints has grown, the report says the absolute number upheld is still higher. Researcher Chris Schmitz, whose analysis of possible automated complaint activity was reported by TechCrunch, likewise said most cases he examined involved people claiming something to which they were entitled.

That distinction shapes the policy problem. Restricting or charging for submissions may reduce the volume, but it could also deter people with valid complaints or claims. The report presents a competing option: redesign public services to collect structured information rather than depend on long written accounts. Whether that approach can manage higher demand while preserving access is not yet settled.

How AI Changed the Paperwork Picture

Sky News describes a long period in which FOI request numbers changed little, followed by a rise beginning after ChatGPT became publicly available in November 2022. Its comparison covers multiple kinds of written contact with public bodies, from healthcare complaints to employment claims. These are not identical measures, and the report does not provide a single common cause for their growth.

The issue is also reported beyond Britain. A paper by Chris Schmitz, covered by TechCrunch in September, documented 84 possible cases of what he calls “agentic flooding” across 11 jurisdictions. The paper found that many of those cases were roughly flat before 2022 and rose afterward. The UK Housing Ombudsman received about 2,600 complaints in 2022 and just over 7,000 last year, while complaints to the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau grew fivefold, according to the source material.

In May, the Information Commissioner’s Office issued guidance after public authorities reported higher FOI volumes and more complex requests, including some that misquoted legislation or required clarification. The ICO said AI-written requests remain valid, authorities do not need to identify whether a person or an AI wrote them, and clarification can be sought when a request is poorly formed.

““It’s like being bombarded with correspondence at speed.””

— Civil servants surveyed in research cited by Sky News

AI’s Share of the Increase

The central uncertainty is causation. The timing and similar shapes of the increases across different channels are suggestive, but they do not establish how much of the growth comes from AI rather than service-specific problems, changing public awareness or other factors. The FOI detector test is a small sample, and AI-text detection is not reliable enough to confirm authorship on its own.

It is also unclear how the reported figures compare across agencies in their underlying definitions, counting periods and starting volumes. The source material gives percentage changes but does not provide a consistent baseline for every channel. The survey figure reflects civil servants’ reported experience, not an independent count of AI-written submissions across government. No full government-wide assessment or agreed response is identified in the report.

Redesigning Forms and Public Services

The immediate response remains a question of policy and service design. The ICO’s existing guidance says public bodies should process valid FOI requests regardless of whether AI helped write them, and may ask for clarification when requests are unclear. The report does not identify a new national rule that would restrict AI-generated complaints or claims.

Loosemore’s proposed direction is to move away from processes that ask applicants to compose lengthy essays and toward services based on structured data. That would require agencies to decide what information they need, how to collect it accessibly and how to handle more submissions without unfairly blocking valid cases. The next signs to watch are whether public bodies change their forms and systems, whether complaint and claim volumes continue to rise, and whether official data can distinguish increased access from additional administrative burden.

Key Questions

What did the Sky News report find?

It reported increases since ChatGPT launched across nine channels, including complaints to public bodies, FOI requests and employment tribunal claims. The figures show a trend, not proof that AI caused it.

Does the report prove that AI caused more complaints?

No. The reported timing is consistent with AI making written submissions easier, but each service may have other reasons for rising volumes. A small AI-detector test cannot establish authorship or causation.

Are AI-written Freedom of Information requests valid?

The Information Commissioner’s Office said in May that AI-written requests are still valid. Authorities do not need to determine who or what wrote them, though they can ask for clarification if a request is unclear.

Are the additional complaints mostly fake?

The report does not support that conclusion. It cites a lower share of DWP complaints being upheld but a larger overall volume, and researcher Chris Schmitz said most cases in his analysis involved people claiming something they were entitled to claim.

What change to government services is being proposed?

Tom Loosemore has argued for services that rely more on structured information and less on applicants writing long accounts. The report does not say that the government has adopted this proposal.

Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com