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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Robert Booth Social affairs correspondent

DWP algorithm wrongly flags 200,000 people for possible fraud and error

Aerial view directly above above rows of back-to-back terrace houses
Thousands of UK households every month have had their housing benefit claims unnecessarily investigated based on the faulty judgment of an algorithm. Photograph: Teamjackson/Getty Images

More than 200,000 people have wrongly faced investigation for housing benefit fraud and error after the performance of a government algorithm fell far short of expectations, the Guardian can reveal.

Two-thirds of claims flagged as potentially high risk by a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) automated system over the last three years were in fact legitimate, official figures released under freedom of information laws show.

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