Caddy Chatbot to Support Supervision of Legal Advisers and Improve Q&A
The Citizens Advice network in England and Wales is a cornerstone of free legal and social support, with a network of 270 local organizations operating across 2,540 locations. In 2024 alone, it provided advice to 2.8 million people via phone, email, and web chat. However, the rising cost-of-living crisis in the UK has increased the demand for legal assistance, particularly in areas such as energy disputes, welfare benefits, and debt management.
The growing complexity of cases, coupled with a shortage of experienced supervisors, has created a bottleneck. Trainees require more guidance, supervisors are overburdened, and delays in responses mean clients wait longer for critical help.
At the March 7, 2025 Stanford AI and Access to Justice research webinar, Stuart Pearson of the Citizens Advice SORT group (part of the broader Citizen Advice network in England) shared how they are using Generative AI (GenAI) to support their advisers responsibly — not replace them. Their AI system, Caddy, was designed to amplify human interaction, reduce response times, and increase the efficiency of advisers and supervisors. But critically, Citizens Advice remains committed to a human-led service model, ensuring that AI enhances, rather than replaces, human expertise.
The Challenge: More Demand, Fewer Experts
Historically, when a trainee adviser encountered a complex case, they would reach out to a supervisor via chat for guidance. Supervisors would step in, identify key legal issues, and suggest an appropriate course of action.
However, as demand for legal help surged, this model became unsustainable:
- More cases required complex supervision.
- Supervisors faced an overwhelming number of trainee queries.
- Delays in responses led to bottlenecks in service delivery.
- Clients experienced longer wait times.
The question was: Could AI alleviate some of the pressure on supervisors while maintaining quality and ethical standards?
The Caddy Solution: AI as a Support Tool, Not a Replacement
How Caddy Works
Caddy was designed as an AI-powered assistant embedded in a group’s work software environment (like Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace). It allows trainees and supervisors to:
- Ask Caddy a question about a client’s legal issue, that has come through an adviser-client interaction.
- Caddy searches only trusted sources (such as 2 well-maintained websites, one from Gov.uk and the other Citizens Advice’s own knowledge base).
- Caddy generates a proposed response, including relevant links that is meant to guide the adviser in their interactions with the client.
- A supervisor reviews, edits, and approves the response. They have a box to put edits. And they have 2 buttons — thumbs up or thumbs down to either approve or reject the response.
- If the supervisor gives a thumbs up, Caddy lets the adviser know. It also tells the adviser the extra context given by the supervisor.
- The adviser relays the verified answer to the client. They can reframe or contextualize it, to ensure that the client is able to understand the details and rules.
Caddy does not replace human decision-making. Instead, it streamlines research, reduces supervisor workload, and increases response speed. It also does not communicate directly with a member of the public. It is drafting guidance for a service provider to use in their interactions with the user.
Core Ethical Principles
From the outset, Citizens Advice set clear ethical guidelines to ensure AI was used responsibly and inclusively:
1. Clients must always speak to a human.
2. Every AI-generated response must be reviewed by a supervisor.
3. Caddy only uses pre-approved, trusted sources.
4. Transparency: Advisers know when they are using AI-generated information.
This approach aligns with the UK Government’s Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standards (ATRS), ensuring AI applications are openly documented and publicly accountable.
Pilot Program: Testing AI’s Impact in Legal Advice
To assess Caddy’s real-world effectiveness, Citizens Advice ran a 4–6 week pilot in six local offices, measuring key near-term outcomes:
- Accuracy of AI-generated responses
- Time saved per case
- Adviser feedback
- Government evaluation on AI in public services
From the initial pilot testing, the group has been gathering responses that are largely positive and bode well for future use.
Accuracy rates were quite high. 80% of AI responses were supervisor-approved — Caddy provided correct answers 8 out of 10 times.
Time saved was another positive outcome. Response times dropped by 50% — from 10 minutes down to 4 minutes, allowing tens of thousands more clients to be helped.
For qualitative stakeholder feedback, advisers appreciated the efficiency but wanted more features. They had some ideas about improving performance, workflows, approval protocols, and other points.
The pilot responses helped identify some important drawbacks that the team is working on. Where was the 20% inaccuracy coming from? How can the advisers and users be more satisfied?
Limited Information Sources
Caddy was initially restricted to two websites. While these were high-quality sources, they weren’t always comprehensive — especially for specialized welfare or debt cases.
Now the team is exploring a possible solution. They’re considering expanding Caddy’s trusted source list while maintaining accuracy controls.
Issues with Vague Queries
AI struggled with unclear or incomplete questions, leading to lower-quality responses. A possible solution here is to train advisers on better prompting techniques and add follow-up question capabilities.
Supervisor Bottlenecks
Some advisers wanted the ability to approve AI responses without waiting for a supervisor in low-risk cases. The solution here involves exploring self-approval options for experienced advisers. They wouldn’t have to wait for a supervisor to approve before they can proceed with Caddy’s response.
Ensuring AI is Inclusive and Ethical
Citizens Advice took a proactive approach to public engagement and ethical AI governance. Many of their strategies can be used by other groups interested in the responsible development of AI.
Engaging Clients Through a “People’s Panel”
The team partnered with Manchester Metropolitan University, which had independently been creating an AI Advisory Panel of citizens. This university-led effort recruited members of the public to join the panel, and attend AI boot camps to educate the public about AI’s role in legal advice. Then they were presented with projects like Caddy, to get their feedback and then gave feedback on the tool, risks, ethics, and features.
Governance and Risk Management
The team also went through planning requirements and standards for its tool, by going through steps like:
- Consequence Scanning: What are the risks of using AI in legal advice?
- Planning for Trust & Reputation: Citizens Advice has existed since 1939 — maintaining public trust is paramount. Any new tech tool must enhance this reputation, rather than endanger it.
- Constructing Shared Infrastructure for Scalability and Transparency: Caddy is open-source and available on GitHub so other nonprofits can build their own AI tools.
Future Developments: Expanding Caddy’s Capabilities
Here are some of the coming changes and improvements coming to Caddy in the near future.
Expanding Pilot to a National Rollout
Later this year, Caddy will roll out to the national Citizens Advice network, beyond its first pilot locations. This deliberate expansion will come after the team has had a chance to learn and address the issues that arose during the local pilots.
Conversational AI for More Dynamic Responses
Caddy will soon ask follow-up questions to refine responses in real-time. This can help address issues around vague questions that lead to answers that are not helpful or not accurate.
Building a Bank of “100% Accurate” Answers
The goal is to create a repository of vetted AI-generated responses that could be used without supervisor review. If successful, Caddy could be rolled out as a client-facing chatbot for basic legal queries.
AI-Powered Training Tools for Advisers
Here, the system could use call transcripts to auto-generate case notes and quality assessments. It could identify gaps in adviser knowledge by analyzing the types of questions they ask.
Or it could develop virtual clients for AI-powered role-playing training sessions.
Lessons from the Caddy Experiment: The Future of AI in Access to Justice
Caddy’s pilot program offers a blueprint for AI-assisted legal services. The key takeaways, for AI for legal help (at least at the beginning of 2025):
- AI should be an assistive tool, not a replacement for human advisers. Especially as a generative AI pilot is in its first stage, it’s good to pilot it in an assistant role, with humans still providing substantial oversight over it.
- Supervision and human oversight are crucial for ethical AI in legal services.
- Training on prompting and follow-up questions improves AI accuracy.
- Community involvement is essential — clients must have a say in AI’s role. Partnering with a university is a great way to get more client and community members’ input.
- Transparency and governance are key to maintaining trust.
Citizens Advice’s journey with Caddy highlights that responsible AI can enhance access to justice while ensuring that legal support remains human-centered, ethical, and inclusive. As AI continues to evolve, the real challenge will be balancing innovation with trust, oversight, and accountability — a challenge that Citizens Advice is well-positioned to lead.