- DWP announces four/six-year project to deploy AI in benefits call centers
- Claimants are on the rise, and millions of worker hours were wasted
- UK Government set to undergo a much bigger transformation
Britain’s Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is now seeking a contract for plans to deploy a conversational AI agent to help handle some benefit-related calls in the hope it can both improve experiences and reduce costs.
Part of the cost reduction will involve the up to £23.4 million (including VAT) spend on the project, up from the previous £10.8 million estimate, as the Government aims to drive for more efficiency.
The procurement notice calls for a natural language call steering system that allows citizens to speak naturally, allowing the system to identify intent and route calls effectively.
DWP wants to use AI to answer the phone
Key outcomes will include routing callers to the right human agent in the first instance, and offering personalized self-service and call deflection options to reduce the burden on human workers.
Not only must the solution must be based in the UK and hosted on a dedicated cloud, but it must also be compliant with a number of frameworks including GDPR/DPA and HMG’s Security Policy Framework.
The Government is now welcoming bids, with the project expected to run between July 6, 2026 and July 5, 2030. Two optional twelve-month extensions, taking it to July 2032, could be offered.
DWP’s AI project comes against a troubling backdrop – over the four years spanning May 2019 to 2023, the UK recorded an 11.8% rise in benefit claimants, equivalent to around 2.4 million additional individuals, putting immense strain on the existing system.
In 2022-2023, as many as 31.6 million call minutes could have been avoided, a National Audit Office report for the DWP uncovered.
Companies seeking government contracts have until January 16 to enquiry, and until February 2 to request participation. Confirmation of the winning bid is expected by June 1.
More importantly, this comes as the UK Government admits its critical failure in securing all systems by 2030, highlighting a much bigger technological change at Downing Street.
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