The government wants to use “voice risk analysis technology” to check if state benefits applicants are giving true information.
The voice risk analysis system can be used over the phone. It checks a person’s voice against markers recorded when, in the case of claimants, they give their name, address and phone numbers.
Telephone operators will be trained in questioning techniques and behavioural analysis. The results are shown on a computer screen. Variations indicate ’stress’, ‘excitement’, ‘high tension’, and, in red, ‘high risk’.
When introduced in Harrow, north-west London, last year, the technology saved £300,000 in the first three months. The Department of Works and Pensions say this suggests levels of deception higher than estimated.
“If people perceive that not everyone is treated equally, that some get preferential treatment, that people who break the rules get away with it, respect for rules is undermined,” a Cabinet Office paper said.
Critics of the technology point out that it is a barometer of stress not truth and anyone having to make a claim is bound to be anxious.
Four weeks’ benefit will be taken from first-time offenders. At present thirteen weeks’ money is kept from those found making a fraudulent claim twice in five years. The new four week rule will apply to people not convicted in court.
Currently, benefit fraud is officially at its lowest recorded level, down 66% since 2001.
The paper was part of the Queen’s Speech, given last Wednesday. The Queen’s Speech is a parliamentary convention whereby the Queen reads out the legislation which the government wishes to introduce over the coming year.
Friends Read Free