AI Voice Assistance in Action: Rethinking Citizen Contact with Autonomous Agents

19th June 2025

by Nicky Hjerpe

Contacting your council shouldn’t feel like hard work.

But for too many citizens, it still does. Long wait times, complex interactive voice response (IVR), disjointed systems across departments – the experience is often frustrating and time-consuming. And for councils, that means higher demand, over-stretched customer service teams and unhappy residents.

But what if one intelligent agent could handle multiple queries across services, channels and systems – resolving what it can, routing what it can’t, and never asking the same question twice?

Autonomous agents built for councils, not just contact centres

Liberty Converse, our AI-powered omnichannel contact centre solution, puts an autonomous agent at the heart of every interaction. But this isn’t just a disconnected chatbot bolted onto legacy systems. It’s one intelligent platform that understands what the citizen is asking, what service is needed and what to do next, whether that’s completing a task, sending a secure follow-up SMS, or handing over to a human.

Because everything runs on Liberty, from case management to knowledge and to comms, the AI can triage across departments, trigger workflows and move services forward without repetition.

It also validates callers securely. If someone calls from a different number, Liberty Converse detects it, asks for confirmation and updates the contact info – without storing personal data in the IVR.

“It’s fast, joined up and built for the real world of local government.”

Nicky Hjerpe

Head of Product Marketing, Netcall

Let’s see what that looks like in a real-world citizen journey. 

One call, multiple services resolved

1. The citizen calls to check their Council Tax balance

No keypad menus. No waiting for the right option. The AI simply answers the call and understands the question.

Instead of passing the call on, the latest Council Tax balance is retrieved securely and shares it on the spot. The resident gets what they need instantly – no queue, no transfer.

2. The autonomous agent spots no direct debit is set up

Instead of stopping at the enquiry, the intelligent assistant spots that the resident isn’t paying by direct debit. It proactively offers to send a secure link to set one up.

With one yes from the caller, the SMS is sent. Job done, without needing a human agent or a separate call.

3. The citizen logs a missed bin collection

Next, the citizen states that their bin wasn’t collected. Without needing to start a new call, or transfer it to a different department, the digital agent handles the process. It asks which bin, logs a case using Liberty’s case management and emails the citizen with a confirmation and case number.

The case is automatically visible to the relevant council team via the case management dashboard in the Liberty platform, as shown in the clip on the left.

4. They have questions about social care

Concerned about a family member, the caller then asks how to get social care support. The autonomous agent finds the most relevant content from the eligibility checker on the council website and reads it out.

It even offers to send them an SMS link for more details – and to a different number, which it confirms and processes securely..

5. The AI assistant sends a link to the assessment form

Rather than pointing them to a generic page, our digital agent delivers exactly what’s needed: a personalised link to start the assessment process.

No paper forms. No explaining the situation twice. Just support, in the moment it’s needed. This clip shows the conversation and link to the online form in the citizen’s portal.

One single call. Three different service areas. All resolved without repeating information or navigating a maze of departments. Liberty Converse intelligently triages the entire conversation – spanning Council Tax, Waste and Social Care – without ever needing the caller to start over or be redirected to another department.

Next day, same agent – different channel

The next day, the citizen opens a web chat to follow up on their bin collection.

1. The citizen’s bin collection has been automatically rescheduled

Liberty Converse’s chat channel picks up the thread and confirms when the bin will be collected – showing its omnichannel capability and AI memory in action.

2. The citizen has completed the social care form

Now that the assessment form is submitted, the resident wants to know if they’ll need to pay for this.

Liberty Converse offers a simple finance checker to help estimate their eligibility. Again, no need to queue to speak to someone. It’s all done through AI automation.

3. The chat ends with a thank you

Another service resolved, another citizen supported. No repeat calls. No confusion. Just joined-up, AI-powered service delivery.

With Liberty Converse and our autonomous agent, councils can deliver faster, smarter, joined-up services – without adding to the workload.