Civil rights groups have raised concerns about the Department for Work and Pensions embedding artificial intelligence in the UK social security system. Reports indicate that the use of AI to determine eligibility for benefits like Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment has serious consequences for claimants. Risks of bias and privacy violations are prevalent, with claims that the DWP maintains a wall of secrecy, preventing public understanding of decision-making processes. This lack of transparency threatens the rights and treatment of individuals seeking support from the system.
Internal DWP documents obtained by Big Brother Watch show that the Universal Credit Advances model, used to risk score almost a million Advances claims each year, displays consistent, statistically significant bias.
Fairness analyses of the Advances model and a string of other pilot tools show that algorithmic disparities have been found for age, nationality, relationship status and reported illnesses - even more concerning as these characteristics are also used as proxies for ethnicity, marital status and disability.
The opaque use of AI systems by the DWP to determine people's eligibility for social security schemes like Universal Credit or Personal Independence Payment is having serious consequences for benefit claimants.
Despite the risks of bias and violations of privacy rights, the DWP has created a wall of secrecy around how its AI systems operate, leaving people unaware of how decisions are made.
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