Why this exists

A free tool for people in the field

Most social workers didn’t become social workers to spend half their week at a desk.

But the paperwork is real. Home visit reports, SOAP notes, risk assessments, referral letters — they all take time. Time that often comes from evenings, weekends and the energy that should go to the people you’re actually trying to help.

The tools that exist to fix this were built for well-funded institutions in wealthy countries. Nothing existed for the child protection officer in Nairobi finishing their sixth visit of the day, or the family support worker in Bucharest working across thirty active cases.

CaseworkAI was built to change that. It was created by a volunteer developer who wanted to give something practical back to frontline social work. It is free, and it will stay free for individual workers.

This is an early product. Every piece of feedback from real workers shapes what gets built next. If something doesn’t work the way you need it to, please tell us.

What it is

A drafting tool. You write rough field notes the way you’d explain a visit to a colleague. CaseworkAI turns them into a structured draft document — a home visit summary, SOAP note, risk assessment, referral letter or safeguarding record — in about 60 seconds. You review it, correct anything that needs changing, then submit it as your own professional work.

What it is not

It is not a replacement for professional judgement. It does not assess risk, identify safeguarding concerns or make clinical decisions. Every document is marked as a draft. The professional responsibility for what gets submitted always sits with the worker.

Why this exists — the numbers

The case for CaseworkAI isn’t our opinion. It’s in the research. Across UK and global studies, frontline social workers spend a significant proportion of their working week on documentation rather than with the people they’re there to support.

The cost of that imbalance isn’t just measured during working hours. According to the UK Department for Education’s longitudinal survey of social workers (2019–2022), the average frontline worker puts in around six hours of unpaid overtime every week — almost all of it spent finishing documentation that wouldn’t fit into the contracted day.

This is the gap CaseworkAI was built to close. Not by replacing the worker, but by giving them their evenings back.

How it’s built

Notes are processed by a large language model and the resulting document is emailed to you. Nothing is stored. The notes are deleted as soon as the document is sent. CaseworkAI is registered with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (reg. ZC132263) and is built to meet UK GDPR, Kenya DPA 2019, Uganda DPA 2019, Nigeria NDPR 2023, Ghana DPA 2012, South Africa POPIA, Rwanda Law N° 058/2021, Philippines DPA 2012, EU GDPR (Romania) and Colombia Law 1581.

Who built it

CaseworkAI was built by Tom R., a volunteer developer who kept hearing the same thing from social workers — that the paperwork was eating the time that should go to families. It started as a free tool and individual workers will never be charged. To keep it sustainable, NGOs and organisations can now license a team setup at a flat monthly rate — that revenue covers the running costs that keep the individual version free, forever.

Where this has been recognised

CaseworkAI was featured in Owia Bulletin Issue 187 by the African Social Work and Development Network (ASWDNet), published 12 May 2026, ISSN 3006-077X. The bulletin reaches social work academics, practitioners and training institutions across the continent. Independent review by Dr Rugare Mugumbate (ASWDNet) prior to publication confirmed the tool produces “a longer, detailed and accurate report.”