Coventry City Council renews contract with US tech giant Palantir
A contract with controversial US tech firm Palantir has been renewed for another year by Coventry City Council.
The £750,000 deal will see the West Midlands local authority continue to use the AI company’s technology in its children’s services department, despite criticism from social workers.
Palantir has attracted condemnation because its technology is used by the Israeli military and the US immigration agency ICE.
Trade unions voiced their opposition saying using the company posed “serious ethical questions”.
The were also calls from councillors not to renew the contract.
Independent MP for Coventry South Zarah Sultana slammed the move.
In an online post she said: “Labour-run Coventry city council has just handed £750,000 to Palantir – a company that profits from hunting immigrants for ICE and produces ‘kill lists’ for the Israeli military.”
Palantir, which was co-founded by the controversial tech billionaire Peter Thiel currently, has contracts with UK public bodies totalling more than £600 million a year.
Deals with the Ministry of Defence and the NHS are among its larger contracts.
Social work academic Christian Kerr criticised the contract renewal, branding it “extremely alarming”.
Writing in a blog, he said: “Coventry council’s recent decision to renew its contract with US spy-tech firm Palantir to use its AI in social work, SEND and children’s services, including to aid in case-note transcription and other time-intensive administrative tasks, is extremely alarming and provides yet more reasons why we need to slow down and think very carefully about what we are ushering into the social work profession, and the lives of people who have involvement with social services.”
Coventry City Council has defended the move, saying the renewal came following a strategic review and that the technology helped to “free-up” social workers.
A city council spokesperson for said: “Coventry City Council has decided to extend its strategic AI platform contract for a further year following a comprehensive strategic review.
“The pilot demonstrated material potential for efficiencies by reducing administrative tasks for frontline staff, freeing up social workers and professionals to spend more time supporting Coventry residents. This work is an important part of our medium-term financial strategy to deliver savings and make our services more efficient.
“Strong safeguards are in place. The council is data controller and retains full control over all data. No data is shared with third parties or used to train AI models. AI supports staff but does not replace professional judgement - there is no automated decision-making about residents.
“The contract includes annual review points where we assess performance and can exit if needed.”