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
The Department for Work and Pensions is seeking to make greater use of automation and other tech to help identify and provide improved support to its most vulnerable service users.
One of the primary ways of doing so is a “conversational platform” that is intended to improve the triage of calls to DWP helplines, according to the department’s permanent secretary Sir Peter Schofield.
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.”
The perm sec went on to write that “beyond telephony channels, we are seeking to simplify access to other services” via better use of tech.
Other examples cited by Schofield include “converting customer’s inbound calls into text”, which can help in “identifying serious harm risks”, he said.
The department chief also pointed to the use of AI to process the 25,000 pieces of correspondence received by the DWP each day.
“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”.
Meanwhile, for Universal Credit and other working-age services, “user feedback [is] informing the design of services, helping identify the barriers and tailoring our approach accordingly”. There is now also an “additional support area in UC [for] recording up-to-date customer support needs in one place”.
Elsewhere, the DWP is ramping up its work on “collaborating with HMRC, UKHSA, [and] DVLA – understanding digital service offers developed by DWP Digital, learning and sharing best practice to improve services for DWP customers”.
Related content
- DWP embarks on ‘ambitious journey’ to ensure trauma-informed services
- DWP research warns digital welfare services ‘may lead to more inequality’
- DWP grows trials of generative AI and reports ‘no immediate concerns’ from fairness assessment of fraud algorithm
Schofield cited several major programmes of work through which the department is delivering service upgrades, including the “Health Transformation Programme [for] simplifying and reducing burden of application processes” for DWP services, as well as the “Service Modernisation Programme, [which is[ making services easier to access and engage with for customers with additional needs”. Alongside these projects, the department is also working on “contact centre modernisation, delivering [a] new telephony platform over a seven-year period, representing a £200m investment”.
“We recognise the importance of identifying and supporting customer needs at the earliest opportunity. This is a core focus for us and fundamental to our transformation plans,” Schofield wrote.
In addition to its use of tech, “the department continues to protect and improve non-digital channels for those customers who need to interact with us by phone, post, or in person”.
“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.”
