POVERTY PANOPTICON
Huge databases are being used to predict which children are at risk of harm or involvement in crime and which families are vulnerable, with little evidence the predictions are any better than the views of an experienced social worker, while benefits applicants are profiled and risk scored by computer systems by the Department for Work and Pensions and their local council.
Our report “Poverty Panopticon: the hidden algorithms shaping Britain’s welfare state”, published in July 2021 and formed from a 9-month investigation reveals how councils across the UK are conducting mass profiling and citizen scoring of welfare and social care recipients to predict fraud, rent non-payments and major life events.
Read the report by clicking here or on the image below
The algorithms that we have uncovered are unevidenced, incredibly invasive and likely discriminatory. Councils are using tools of automated suspicion without residents’ knowledge or their consent and risk disadvantaging and discriminating against Britain’s poor.
OUR KEY FINDINGS
RISK-BASED VERIFICATION
TAKE ACTION AND HELP OUR CAMPAIGN
If you get Housing Benefit the Department for Work and Pensions is using your personal data to predict if you are a fraud risk.
2.8 million people will be risk scored on factors including their age and gender, and 1 in 7, around 400,000 people, will be flagged as a high fraud risk.
Every one of these 400,000 people flagged as a fraud risk by a computer system will be subject to an intrusive Full Case Review by their local council.
Most councils do not explain why individuals are having their Housing Benefit reviewed and why they must answer detailed questions over and over again.
Anyone receiving a Full Case Review letter must hand over the required information and some councils will halt Housing Benefits payments just one week after the letter is sent, leaving people with almost no time to respond.
Leaving a computer algorithm to decide who must submit to an intrusive examination of their benefits is an invasion of privacy and makes it possible for the HBAAI to entrench bias into the welfare system.
Let us know if you have sent off a Subject Access Request, or if you have any questions, by emailing us at info@bigbrotherwatch.org.uk
Make a Subject Access Request
Data protection rules entitle you to ask any public body how they use your information and why - your Subject Access Request lets you find what data your council or the DWP holds on you and how it is used.
The responses you get will be vital to our research, if you decided to share it confidentially with Big Brother Watch. In return, we promise to do everything we can to explain how your data is being processed.
If you receive Housing Benefit and want to help, fill in this form and copy and paste this message into the “Information You Need Box”.
We suggest the date range for the request being from 1st January 2019 to the present day.
Click to copy
To Whom It May Concern,
I am writing to submit a Subject Access Request for information held on me by the Department for Work and Pensions.
I am solely requesting information about the processing of my data in relation to the Housing Benefit Accuracy Award Initiative (HBAAI).
Please furnish me with:
- The data about me inputted into the HBAAI algorithm.
- The risk score/similar generated about me by the algorithm.
- Details on how this data was processed, including details of any automated and/or algorithmic process used to aid in decision making.
Please also explain any other profiling, algorithm or automated aid to decision making applied to me or my data.
Best Wishes,
It is important to include a) your contact details; b) any additional information (account numbers, etc.) that the council may use to distinguish you from others.
Search online for “Subject Access Request” and your council’s name to find the correct email or postal address to send your DSAR to - email is usually easier.
You may be asked to provide a copy of some ID to make sure you’re getting the right data, this is completely normal. You are always entitled to see how your info is used under the Data Protection Act.
