‘Lie Detector’ saves £50k per month in benefit fraud » Communities » 24dash.com

Voice Risk Analysis - popularly dubbed the 'Lie Detector' test - and used by Harrow Council to prevent and catch benefit cheats, has saved the taxpayer £336,711.
 
Harrow is the first council in the country to trial this scheme and calculates it is saving taxpayers £50,000 per month or £300 per working hour.
 
Edinburgh, Durham and Birmingham are amongst several other councils piloting this Department for Work and Pensions-backed project - which is run by Capita, the company that manages London's Congestion Charge.
 
The council in North West London says that out of nearly one thousand people to have been assessed using this new technology, 43 (4.3%) were labelled as 'high-risk' and their benefit claims were later found to be false and potentially fraudulent.
 
There is strong anecdotal evidence that the lie detector test is having a significant deterrent effect on would-be fraudsters.

Over a quarter (281 claimants) were now volunteering information to say that their personal circumstances had changed and they no longer needed benefits - over double the rate at the start of the trial.
 
Feedback was also said to be 'overwhelmingly positive', with 5% (53 people) refusing to use the technology.
 
The 'lie detector' has been used in the insurance industry for over five years and works by detecting changes in people's voice patterns such as hesitation or avoiding direct questions.

This is first calibrated at the start of the conversation by asking basic personal details such as name, address and date of birth.

The system then flags up any discrepancies from this base stress level by indicating 'high risk'.

It is not the final arbitrator but one of many ways of detecting any potential fraudulent claims.
 
Councillor Paul Osborn, Portfolio Holder for Strategy and Business Support at Harrow Council said: "Anything that is saving taxpayers around £300 per working hour must be a very good thing.
 
"Although we still have to review the final results of the trial after a whole year, to make sure the savings have been made directly through this technology, these interim figures suggest the pilot scheme has been very successful.
 
"We hope to get further funding from the DWP to continue using the technology after April, but will be lobbying hard to make sure that Harrow gets value for money from the savings we are making for the government.
 
"We have also had an overwhelmingly positive response with 95% of residents happy to use the technology.

“This is because the way we have been open and transparent about this scheme which has also meant that double the amount of people are now volunteering changes in their personal circumstances.
 
"As well as saving money on those potentially fraudulent cases, this technology enables us to make sure the vast majority of law abiding citizens who are entitled to help, get their benefits quicker."