Recommendation 16

DWP also told us that it had been using artificial intelligence to scan customers’ written communications for words and phrases that could indicate vulnerability so that it could provide support quickly. In subsequent correspondence, it highlighted that this technology solution had recently received the ‘Excellence in Delivery Award’ at the 2024 Civil Service Awards.31 DWP conceded that it did not yet have an equivalent screening system to identify such customers on the telephone but said it had plans to address this gap through its Service Modernisation Programme. It told us it had plans to deploy new contact centre technology, known as a ‘Conversational Platform’, which should route customers to the right person in a quicker way by using a virtual telephone agent.32 In subsequent correspondence, DWP stated that the Conversational Platform was performing well in areas where it had been deployed and that it planned to roll out the service across more telephony lines in the coming months.33