Universal Credit algorithm fails people in need, says Human Rights Watch

The Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) Universal Credit system is failing people who most need it, according to Human Rights Watch.

A report by the charity found that the algorithm used by the system is “flawed” and that the system inaccurately calculates payments, which leads to claimants struggling to get by.

Benefits are calculated automatically by an algorithm, using data from HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) real-time information (RTI) system, which provides information on whether taxes have been paid and on time, as well as how much an individual or household claiming benefits earns each month.

According to Human Rights Watch, however, the algorithm is failing to correctly calculate payments.  

“If the RTI system is a camera, the assessment period functions like a timer that tells it when to take a photo. The resulting snapshot is the earnings data that UC’s algorithm uses to calculate an individual’s benefit payment for that month,” the report said.

“The problem is that this earnings snapshot is incomplete. The data that the DWP obtains only shows how much an individual is paid and when they were paid, but not the period of work their salary covers. As a result, the DWP might detect that an individual received a £1,000 pay cheque on 30 March and another £1,000 on 29 April, but not that each £1,000 salary is a monthly wage.”

It added that the algorithm “appears to be rule-based” and has been programmed “with a well-defined sequence of rules that tells it exactly how to analyse people’s finances in order to work out their award each month”.

Human Rights Watch said the government needs to ensure that the algorithm does not “deprive people of their benefits on discriminatory grounds”.

In June 2020, the Court of Appeal ordered DWP to fix the design flaw. However, the ruling was limited to those cases where people draw a regular monthly salary. According to the charity, the department has accepted the ruling “but is still figuring out how to implement it”.

The charity also criticised the government’s digital-first approach to the system, saying that many people who “lack digital literacy also cannot afford a computer device or an internet connection”. These concerns have been echoed by previous reports by several bodies, including one by a United Nations special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights in 2018, who found several significant issues with the digital system.