Page 69 - JUSTICE and AJC Report - Reforming Benefits Decision-Making

Algorithms identified parents with dual nationality as fraud risks, 192 and
parents were identified as having committed fraud for minor errors such as
missing signatures on paperwork. The legislation implementing SyRI was
193
found to breach Article 8 (the right to private life) of the European
Convention on Human Rights. The court held it contained insufficient
safeguards against invasions of privacy by SyRI, including a serious lack of
transparency about its functioning. In the absence of more information about
how SyRI works, the court warn that the system may discriminate on the basis
of socio-economic or migrant status. A parliamentary inquiry criticised the
194
lack of transparency and information – parents often did not know why their
195
benefits had been stopped and the tax authorities also refused to provide
evidence or reasoning for the decisions so parents could not appeal.

2.91 The DWP has told us that it is committed to meeting its transparency
obligations under data protection legislation and to following guidance from
the Information Commissioner’s Office. It works with legal and data
protection colleagues to ensure that it does. Whilst we are pleased to see this
commitment, these requirements relate largely to informing individuals about
the collection and use of their personal data. This includes things such as the
purpose for which data is being processed, retention periods and who it will
be shared with. However, data protection law does not require the provision of
systematic information about how the automated system operates. Further,
although there are enhanced data protection requirements for automated
decision making under Article 22 of the UK General Data Protection
Regulation these only apply to “solely automated decision making”, i.e.
without human involvement, something that the DWP does not currently do.

2.92 We recommend that the DWP should publish information on how and
when automation is used in the benefits decision-making processes and
how it feeds into the final decision made by the decision-maker, including

192 The Economist, ‘A benefits scandal sinks the Dutch Government’ (see n. 185 above).
193 E. Schaart, ‘Dutch Labor leader quits over false benefit fraud scandal’ (Politico, January 2021).
194 De Rechtspraak, ‘SyRI legislation in breach of European Convention on Human Rights’ (February
2020).
195 Rijksoverheid, ‘Kabinetsreactie op het rapport ‘Ongekend onrecht’’ (January 2021).

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