Risk based verification (RBV): Big Bother Watch report and your algorithm

The request was partially successful.

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

Big Brother Watch's report of July 2021 entitled 'Poverty Panopticon: the hidden algorithms shaping Britain’s welfare state' considers your use of risk based verification (RBV):

https://bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/wp-conten...

'In RBV policies across the country and in DWP guidance the human intervention element of the process is limited. Benefits officers who request the risk score are permitted in limited circumstances to upgrade a risk score, for example from low to medium, but are forbidden by the DWP from lowering anybody’s score.' (page 37)

1. Can you confirm that benefits officers are forbidden from lowering anyone's score?

2. If you record centrally the number of times benefits officers upgrade risk scores, please provide the information for the financial year 2020/21.

3. Can you confirm that DWP staff who claim benefits are also subject to RBV?

Yours faithfully,

J Roberts

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DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has
been received by the DWP FOI mailbox.
 
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J Roberts left an annotation ()

'UK government publishes pioneering standard for algorithmic transparency

* The Cabinet Office’s Central Digital and Data Office has developed an algorithmic transparency standard for government departments and public sector bodies with the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation

* The standard will be piloted by several public sector organisations and further developed based on feedback

* The move makes the UK one of the first countries in the world to develop a national algorithmic transparency standard, strengthening the UK’s position as a world leader in AI governance'

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-go...

DWP Central FOI Team,

1 Attachment

Dear J Roberts,

I am writing in response to your request for information, received 29th
November.

Yours sincerely,

DWP Central FoI Team

J Roberts left an annotation ()

'The Department of Work and Pensions’ 2021-22 accounts published last week revealed that it has been trialling a machine learning algorithm to detect fraud in Universal Credit claims and expects soon to use the model to stop payments before they are even made.

The algorithm analyses historical data to predict which cases are likely to be fraudulent in the future, without being explicitly programmed by a human.'

https://publiclawproject.org.uk/latest/d...

https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/upload...

J Roberts left an annotation ()

ICO 19/1/23

'As part of this inquiry, we consulted with a range of technical suppliers, a representative sample of local authorities across the country and the Department for Work and Pensions.
...

In this instance, we have not found any evidence to suggest that claimants are subjected to any harms or financial detriment as a result of the use of algorithms or similar technologies in the welfare and social care sector. It is our understanding that there is meaningful human involvement before any final decision is made on benefit entitlement. Many of the providers we spoke with confirmed that the processing is not carried out using AI or machine learning but with what they describe as a simple algorithm to reduce administrative workload, rather than making any decisions of consequence.'

https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/media-c...