Chapter Three: Custodianship and the Ethics of Presence
The author begins with a simple claim: systems do not answer, people do. In the wake of automated delegation, civic life has become procedural, opaque and unaccountable. Chapter Two documented this shift—through vignettes of displaced judgment, invisible thresholds and relational absence. But the record must now turn toward repair. This chapter explores the role of custodianship: the act of holding responsibility, bearing witness and remaining present within systems that often obscure or diffuse accountability.
Custodianship is not a technical role, it is a civic ethic. A custodian is someone who answers; not just for outcomes, but for process, presence and care. In a bureaucratic field shaped by automation, custodianship becomes a form of resistance. It insists that every decision, however procedural, must be traceable to a human being who can explain, reflect and respond.
The ethics of presence begins with recognition, to be present is not merely to occupy a role. It is to meet others in full awareness, to hold space for complexity and to remain answerable. The author observes that presence is often eroded by systems that prioritise throughput over relationship. Staff are trained to relay decisions, not to intervene. Citizens are processed, not engaged. Custodianship restores the possibility of meeting.
Across UK institutions, the author identifies emerging practices of custodianship. In some councils, staff have begun logging override decisions, documenting when and why they depart from
