Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether any of the claim detection criteria in the targeted case review system are applied by or operated through artificial intelligence, machine learning or algorithmic processes.

As set out in the Department’s 2022/23 Annual Report and Accounts (page 308 to 310), DWP uses a range of advanced analytics to identify patterns in claims that could suggest fraud or error, so that these claims can be reviewed by relevant DWP teams including Targeted Case Review agents. The final decision on benefit entitlement is made by a human caseworker.

The National Audit Office confirm that DWP have governance and processes in place to monitor the bias of these models.