Recommendation 22

The Department launched its Risk and Intelligence Service (RIS) in April 2018 and reported that it was using ‘increasingly sophisticated data and analytical tools’ to tackle fraud and error.43 In response to COVID-19, the Department absorbed the work of RIS and other intelligence teams into its new Integrated Risk and Intelligence Service (IRIS) which the Department reports is ‘significantly increasing’ its prevention capability through the use of new data matching rules. However, despite these claims, the impact of this technology is still largely unproven as the estimated rate of overpayments has continued to rise since this Risk and Intelligence Service was introduced.44