The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has warned benefits claimants over a big change to the benefits system at the “earliest opportunity”. The DWP will target the use of digital in “identifying and supporting customer needs at the earliest opportunity”.
The department’s permanent secretary Peter Schofield has shed light on plans to introduce more automation to telephony services, while also boosting digital and in-person support for the most vulnerable users. In a letter to MPs on the Public Accounts Committee, Schofield said that the system “will modernise DWP’s telephony services using voice-led technology that can assimilate what a caller is telling us, routing their call to the team best-placed to support them”.
He added: “The service is already performing well in areas where it is deployed, and we plan to roll it out across more of our telephony lines in the coming months.” He said that “beyond telephony channels, we are seeking to simplify access to other services” via better use of tech.
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“Artificial intelligence technology [can] allow us to digitally identify whether a customer may need support from what they have written and how they have written it,” he said. The DWP has also created an “assisted digital survey [for] auto-generating barriers a customer may have in communicating and engaging with the department”.
“Across all benefit lines, training and guidance are being strengthened through the current rollout of the Customer Additional Needs campaign and framework,” Schofield said. “This framework will continuously evolve to target support for more complex customer circumstances.”
He added: “We are testing new ways to offer a more flexible DWP Visiting Service, including a face-to-face service in co-located premises. An example of how this works in practice is our joint work with the Ministry of Justice and Probation Services though our Innovation Hubs. Working holistically with partners including the Salford Foundation, we can ensure DWP benefits are in place to prevent, in some cases, re-offending and help people get closer to work, secure housing and improve their lives. This joined-up approach is improving trust between customers, organisations and wider partners.”