DWP AI technology unfairly targets vulnerable groups

Human rights campaigners are warning that the Government’s methods for tackling benefits “fraud and error” could have “devastating consequences”.

The new report into Universal Credit fraud from the National Audit Office (NAO) states that overpayments remain “too high”. It also states that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) expects to save over £13.6bn by 2030, by tackling fraud and error in benefits payments. This is on top of the £4.5bn it has already saved between April 2022 and March 2025.

The Government gave the DWP £6.7bn to tackle fraud and error between 2020 and 2029. But they haven’t even saved that yet. They’re literally throwing money away.

DWP throwing money away

The government is expanding its use of data analytics and ‘machine learning’. In other words, they’re using AI to weed out fraud.

Since the Government introduced the new AI model in 2022, it’s estimated that taxpayers have saved £4.4m. Supposedly, it is three times more effective at identifying fraud compared to regular methods.

The system is supposed to help support some of the most vulnerable people in society. However, according to the Big Issue, campaigners are already warning that these methods will create further surveillance, harsher rules, and punishments.

Because of this, the NAO had asked the DWP to carry out an assessment of how fair the model is between age groups.

Targeting pensioners

The NAO has warned that the Government’s new AI tool to target benefit fraud is more likely to target pensioners.

According to the Telegraph:

Claimants over 66 and non-British nationals were 49 times more likely than those aged between 35 and 44 to have their claims for a Universal Credit advance referred for inspection, potentially requiring them to fill out more paperwork as evidence for a claim.

Not many people over state pension age receive Universal Credit. Normally, only people under the state pension can access Universal Credit, due to it being linked to a spouse or tax credits.

However, the NAO said that the data suggests that the AI program is “over-referring” some groups. Meanwhile, the DWP has said we should treat the sample used in the analysis with “caution” because of its small size.

This all comes as the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill passes through the House of Lords.

According to the Government, the Bill will:

make provision about the prevention of fraud against public authorities and the making of erroneous payments by public authorities; about the recovery of money paid by public authorities as a result of fraud or error; and for connected purposes.

Basically, this will allow the DWP to snoop on bank accounts in an attempt to claw back billions in supposed “overpayments”.

According to the Telegraph:

Charities previously said the new legislation carried the risk of pensioners being dragged into lengthy investigations to get their money back.

Only recently, the Canary went undercover at the DWP to investigate its spying on benefit claimants. We found that DWP’s covert surveillance officers follow people on foot, and even tail benefits claimants in vehicles at speeds of up to 70mph. And of course, DWP employees are already doing this.

The funniest part, though? The NAO warned that benefits overpayments are usually caused by faults in the DWP’s own IT systems. According to Civil Service World:

It said DWP’s IT systems are not fully integrated and do not allow staff to view all the information that the department holds about claimants, making it less likely that incorrect payments will be prevented or detected.

The public spending watchdog said DWP estimated that it had overpaid £73m in benefits during 2024-25 because it had failed to take individual claimants’ full benefits income into account when calculating their entitlement. It added that the ability for claimants’ addresses to be entered into DWP’s systems using multiple formats also increased the difficulty of matching different records held for the same claimant.

Where was the outrage?

Now that the NAO have mentioned targeting pensioners, it appears that the corporate media are suddenly up in arms. But where was their outrage over the DWP targeting disabled and chronically ill people, or slashing their benefits?

Previously, the DWP falsely accused a disabled woman of owing £28,000 in benefit overpayments. The only reason that was overturned was due to media coverage from the Big Issue.

Similarly, as the Canary previously reported, this was not the first time the DWP’s mistakes have screwed over a disabled benefit claimant. Last year, they stopped the Canary’s Rachel Charlton-Dailey’s PIP, in error. When she wrote about it on X, dozens more described a litany of similar DWP PIP failures. This ultimately resulted in the department stopping people’s PIP benefits, which helps them live their daily lives.

From cutting access to work to changing the criteria for claiming PIP, since Keir Starmer came into office, his Government has made it its mission to make the lives of chronically ill and disabled people a living hell.

But now, it’s not just disabled people’s benefits he’s coming for. And of course, it takes the targeting of anyone but disabled people to get the corporate media’s attention.

Featured image via the Canary