AI tool helped recover £500m lost to fraud, government says

BBC

A new artificial intelligence tool designed to combat fraud has helped the UK government recover almost £500m over the past year, the BBC can reveal.

More than a third of the money clawed back related to fraudulent activity during the Covid-19 pandemic, with other cash being recouped from unlawful council tax claims and illegal subletting of social housing.

The government will announce later that a new AI tool, which has helped identify fraud, will now be licensed for use in other countries, including the US and Australia.

Civil liberties campaigners have previously criticised the Labour government for its use of AI in trying to counter fraud.

The Cabinet Office says the £480m recovered in the 12 months from April 2024 is the largest sum ever reclaimed by government anti-fraud teams in a single year.

The savings have been achieved by cross-referencing information held by various government departments, as well as utilising a new AI tool.

Ministers say the savings will now be used to recruit nurses, teachers and police officers.

Of the total sum recovered, £186m was related to Covid fraud.



Public money



Ministers have long vowed to recoup some of the money lost during the pandemic, but the £186m recovered is a fraction of the amount Labour has previously stated was missing.

Before last year\'s general election, the now-Chancellor Rachel Reeves claimed more than £7bn of public money was lost to fraud during the pandemic.

These savings include the blocking of hundreds of thousands of companies with potentially fraudulent Bounce Back Loans from dissolving.

Bounce Back Loans were government-backed loans of up to £50 000 set up during the pandemic to support businesses.

However, the scheme has been criticised for not being diligent enough and effectively inviting fraud, as companies that dissolve before repaying the money often do not need to repay anything.

The Cabinet Office states that one case it identified involved a woman who created a company and then sent the loan money to Poland.

Anti-fraud summit

Cabinet Office minister Josh Simons will announce the savings at an anti-fraud summit held jointly by the UK, the US, Canada and Australia on Wednesday.

He said "cutting-edge AI and data tools" would ensure the government can protect public funds and not "line the pockets of scammers and swindlers".

The new AI tool, called the Fraud Risk Assessment Accelerator, was developed by researchers in the Cabinet Office and will now be rolled out across other government departments.

The Cabinet Office stated that the tool "scans new policies and procedures for weaknesses before they can be exploited" and claims it can make policies "fraud-proof" before they are implemented.



Welfare fraud



It was developed due to concerns within Whitehall about the level of fraud observed during the pandemic.

Simons will announce that the UK government will now license the tool for international use, and it is expected that the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand will all adopt it in some way.

However, the move could raise concerns among campaign groups already dissatisfied with the government\'s use of AI.

Last year, an AI tool used to crack down on welfare fraud was found to show bias according to people\'s age, disability, marital status and nationality.

Documents released to the Guardian under Freedom of Information Laws admitted the tool used by the Department for Work and Pensions showed a "statistically significant outcome disparity" in a "fairness analysis".

A report by Amnesty International released earlier this year criticised the government\'s "unchecked use of tech and AI systems".