Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 37
6th Report - DWP Customer Service and Accounts 2023-24
Published 31 Jan 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee DWP Customer Service and Accounts 2023-24 All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
However, written evidence we received from the Public Law Project raised a series of risks around DWP’s use of machine learning to tackle fraud. In particular, it noted the risk of machine learning taking on human biases when it was trained on historical data and the potential for widescale detrimental impacts on claimants if there was a system error. It said that DWP needed to be more transparent to address the issue of public confidence in its machine learning techniques.73 67 Q 46 68 Qq 46, 57 69 C&AG’s Report (on accounts), paras 32, 34 70 Committee of Public Accounts, The Department for Work & Pensions Annual Report and Accounts 2022–23, Fourth Report of Session 2023–24, HC 290, 6 December 2023; Committee of Public Accounts, The Department for Work and Pensions’ Accounts 2021–22 – Fraud and error in the benefits system, Twenty-Sixth Report of Session 2022–23, HC 44, 9 November 2022 71 Committee of Public Accounts, The Department for Work & Pensions Annual Report and Accounts 2022–23, Fourth Report of Session 2023–24, HC 290, 6 December 2023 72 C&AG’s Report (on accounts), para 34 73 DCSA0003 17
From: Public Accounts Committee, 6th Report - DWP Customer Service and Accounts 2023-24 (HC 354), 31 January 2025
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 6 May 2025.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government agrees with most of the Committee's recommendations in this response, but disagrees with the recommendation that it set out when it expects to meet its PIP processing target.
- On PIP claim times, the government disagrees with the recommendation, stating the department "has to balance speed against the risk of inaccuracy". It says the Health Transformation Programme will modernise PIP "in the longer-term".
- On ESA calls, the government agrees and says it is recruiting 160 colleagues by March 2025. It states that customer wait times for ESA enquiries "will be improved by September 2025".
- On counter fraud, the government agrees and says that from April 2025 the department "will begin progressive deployment of an additional 3,000 staff", expecting the full number to be in role by 2027-28.
- On machine learning, the government agrees and gives a target implementation date of summer 2025. It says the department "will support an in-confidence session" on the 2024 fairness analysis assessment.