5 April 2007 - Hutton announces new technology to strengthen fight against benefit fraud
A pilot of a new process involving ground-breaking technology to catch out benefit thieves and improve service for benefit customers was announced by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions John Hutton today.
Voice Risk Analysis (VRA) technology enables trained operators to identify suspect cases at the start of a claim, helping to keep fraud out of the benefit system.
The technology is currently used successfully in the insurance industry and analyses changes in a caller’s voice giving an indication of the level of risk. These changes are measured against the caller’s “normal” voice which is recorded at the beginning of the phone call, ensuring that nervousness or shyness is not a trigger. If, during the pilot, benefit staff assess the answers as suspicious then the caller may be asked to provide further evidence to support their claim.
The aim is to provide a quicker, more efficient service for the majority of customers as staff will be able to accurately validate a customer’s information during a phone conversation.
The system will be piloted by Harrow Council for reviews of housing benefit and council tax benefit claims. In addition to the pilot by Harrow Council, Jobcentre Plus will test how VRA works with is own systems later in the year.
John Hutton said:
“The vast majority of people who receive benefits are genuinely entitled to them. However, there is a minority who are intent on stealing money from those who need it most.
“This technology-based process aims to tackle these fraudsters while speeding up claims and improving customer service for the honest majority.
“We have already made massive reductions in benefit fraud - cutting it by nearly two thirds since 2001. But we still need to do more to ensure that tax payers’ money always goes to those who need it.
“Our investigators are successfully using sophisticated 21st century techniques to stop criminals. The introduction of this cutting edge technology will be another weapon in the battle against benefit fraud.
“Harrow Council is already recognised as providing one of the best Housing Benefit services in the UK and I welcome its willingness to pilot this innovative technique to make further improvements.”
Harrow Council's Deputy Leader, Cllr David Ashton, said:
"We are very happy for Harrow to be the testing ground for this project. Our benefits team is already the best in London and one of the best in the country. But we want to improve our processing rates even more. This new scheme will let us process the majority of claimants who are bona fide more quickly and look more closely at those who potentially seek to defraud the borough of valuable resources."
Notes to editors
- DWP is funding the pilot in Harrow Council which will start on May 21. The DWP intends to test the technology in Jobcentre Plus later in the year.
- Calls are handled by operators trained in intelligent questioning and various forms of behavioural analysis which allows them to assess the level of risk in the conversation. In addition, Voice Risk Analysis (VRA) technology is used to support the operator’s analysis. The technology analyses changes in voice frequency and performs thousands of mathematical calculations, resulting in the identification of different categories of emotional content. The patterns associated with these categories allow the technology to identify genuine callers.
- At the beginning of each call, the characteristics of a customer’s voice frequency are sampled in order to establish a benchmark - taking into account any pre-existing emotions. The benchmark is used during a conversation as a guide for analysing changes in frequency caused by changes in emotions.
- Fraud in all benefits has been reduced from around £2bn in 2001 to an estimated £0.7bln in 2005/06. So the Government has reduced fraud across all the benefits system by nearly two thirds since 2001.
- Fraud and error in Income Support and Job Seeker’s Allowance is down from around 10.4% (£1,220m) of expenditure in the baseline year 1997/98 to 4.7% (£550m) of expenditure in 2005/06. A reduction of 55% or £670m in monetary terms.
- DWP, in partnership with local authorities, is carrying out more prosecutions and sanctions against fraudsters than ever before – in 2005/06 there were over 52,000 prosecutions and sanctions. The Fraud Act 2001 gave fraud investigators more powers to catch and punish offenders, including greater powers to check records with other organisations.
- The National Benefit Fraud Hotline number is 0800 854 440. Lines are open between 7am and 11pm seven days a week or you can report a cheat online via: www.dwp.gov.uk/benefit-thieves
- Capita Group, in conjunction with Digilog UK, is assisting in the development and implementation of the pilot for Harrow Council. This involves supplying the system, advising on its use and training.
DWP Press Office media enquiries:
Darragh McElroy: 020 3267 5130
Press Office: 020 3267 5144
Out of Hours: 07659 108 883
Website: www.dwp.gov.uk