Those cunning foxes at Lambeth Council have joined the Department for Work and Pensions and professional services company Capita to catch out benefit cheats. In a recent pilot project, council staff phoned 2,000 borough residents and used Voice Risk Analysis to detect whether they were lying. Voice Risk Analysis picks up tiny changes in the voice, which indicate when someone is lying.
Once they knew that someone was lying, benefits staff made further checks to see whether their claims needed investigation. Out of the 638 people investigated, 377 were caught lying and had their benefits reduced or cancelled. But the scheme may have been a little too successful as far as the council is concerned – a further 261 people realised that they weren’t getting their full entitlement, and had to have their benefits increased.
David Ashmore, the council’s divisional director for revenues and benefits, said:
“Lambeth has a clear and tough policy of benefit fraud. This cutting-edge technology is another weapon in our armoury.”
There are now plans to extend the scheme.
