SUMMER 2025 DIGITAL - Flipbook - Page 44
GPSJ
LOCAL AUTHORITY & COUNCIL
How AI-assisted income management
redefines public value in local government
By Jamie Symons, Head of Product at Access PaySuite, part of the Access Group
Last year, it was revealed that
only 10% of England’s 426
local authorities submitted
usable data for the 2022-23
UK “Whole of Government
Accounts”, highlighting
persistent data challenges
for local government 昀椀nance
teams.
With councils under mounting
pressure to deliver essential
services amid tighter budgets
and complex revenue streams,
e昀昀ective income management has
never been more critical.
Yet many public sector
organisations still struggle with
fragmented 昀椀nancial systems.
In 2023, over half still relied on
manual budgeting processes,
while a third lacked the insights
needed for strategic planning, and
70% reported poorly co-ordinated
data landscapes.
A survey of 76 local authorities
found “using and managing data”
was the lowest-scoring area,
underscoring the urgent need for
smarter 昀椀nancial management.
Manual, siloed approaches
can no longer keep pace with
the complexity of modern local
government, as today’s Councils
are not only being asked to
manage income but also
demonstrate foresight, resilience
and transparency.
Beyond balancing the books
Income management has
historically focused on e昀케ciency
and compliance. But the public
sector can no longer a昀昀ord to see
it as a purely administrative task.
It’s about resilience. It
underpins the ability of councils
to deliver essential services,
invest in communities and build
trust. When data is incomplete,
delayed or poorly connected, that
resilience weakens.
Traditional reporting cycles can
explain what’s already happened,
44
but they rarely cover why it
happened or how to respond
if a similar event occurs in the
future. For example, a drop in
local revenues might appear in
a quarterly report, but without
contextual insight 昀椀nance leaders
are left reacting too late.
This is where AI-assisted
income management o昀昀ers
something di昀昀erent.
By combining live payment
data, behavioral signals and
external context, platforms like our
very own Access Evo, transforms
昀椀nancial reporting from static
numbers into dynamic narratives.
Instead of backward-looking
spreadsheets, councils can see
how 昀氀uctuations to real-world
causes.
Finance teams can step
into strategic roles, shaping
conversations on policy and
planning, rather than being
con昀椀ned to balancing the books.
Building resilience and
public trust
Volatility is now part of the
operating environment for local
governments. Economic shocks,
sudden policy changes and
in昀氀ationary pressures all test a
council’s ability to remain stable.
While traditional systems leave
authorities on the defensive,
forced to respond after pressures
have already eroded income, AI
changes the equation.
Complete real-time data
transparency and natural language
question and answer AI co-pilot
capabilities enable 昀椀nance teams
to stress-test revenue streams,
anticipate risks and design
contingency plans in advance.
This allows for smarter, more
informed, allocation of reserves,
targeted interventions and
long-term planning that protects
services. Rather than constantly
absorbing disruption, councils can
actively prepare for it.
GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC SECTOR JOURNAL SUMMER 2025
At a time when public trust in
institutions is fragile, transparency
is becoming just as important as
昀椀scal control. Citizens want to
understand not only how money
is spent but also how it is raised.
AI-assisted income management
makes this possible.
Real-time dashboards and
intuitive reporting tools can bring
clarity to income streams, creating
a culture of openness that
strengthens accountability.
Being able to demonstrate that
income from parking charges
directly funds community services,
transforms the perception
of revenue collection from
transactional burdens into visible
investments in public value. By
reframing income management
as a service in itself, councils can
strengthen engagement and trust.
From administration to
strategy
AI in local government is not about
replacing people. It’s about freeing
people to focus on what matters
most.
Today’s skilled 昀椀nance
professionals spend too much
time chasing disconnected data
for compliance reposts, leaving
limited capacity for strategic
analysis.
AI can automate much of this
administrative burden, providing
clean, integrated data for both
compliance and decisionmaking purposes. This allows
昀椀nance teams to work alongside
service leads, to explore how
income can be synced with
community priorities, or to engage
more proactively with central
government from a position of
insight.
Instead of 昀椀re昀椀ghting arrears
or producing reactive reports,
professionals can dedicate
their expertise to policy impact,
analysis, strategic planning and
innovation in revenue generation.
Embedding AI into income
management rede昀椀nes what
昀椀nance teams contribute to public
value. They become strategic
enablers - advisors who connect
resilience with community
outcomes.
A local government 昀椀nance
turning point
Councils cannot rely on the
systems of the past to solve the
challenges of the future.
AI-assisted income
management provides a credible
and practical, future-proofed way
forwards. It delivers the visibility
that has long been missing,
the foresight that traditional
reporting can’t provide and the
transparency that citizens now
expect.
Councils can continue to
operate reactively with manual
processes and fragmented data,
or they can embrace AI to build
proactive and resilient 昀椀nancial
management. The former risks
further erosion of trust and
sustainability. The latter represents
an opportunity not just to balance
budgets, but to transform the role
of 昀椀nance into a strategic engine
of public value.
With AI at the core of income
management, local authorities can
access the tools needed to shape
the future of public 昀椀nance.
Jamie Symons
