Computer Voice Analysis aids Harrow Council
February 21, 2008
Computer voice analysis is being used in order to root out benefit cheats. This initiative is helping the council almost more than £300,000. The Voice Risk Analysis (VRA) system has helped Harrow Council save around £336,711 in benefit payouts and has stoped 43 incorrect payments. The Capita VRA system is being examined by 12 UK councils. The system works by identifying stress patterns like hesitation or changing of answers showing in the voice of callers to show whether they are lying or not.
Since Harrow Council started the £63,000 trial in the month of May last year, more than a quarter of claimants said they did not need the benefits as their conditions had changed. Just five per cent of people refused to be examined by the VRA system when informed that the pilot is being run by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The system recognized 119 of 998 people assessed as being at “high risk” of fraudulence. As per the government, benefit fraud cost around £700m in the financial year 2006/07. The Harrow Council alone lost £250,000 via fraudulent claims over the same time period.
Harrow’s saving consisted of £284,461 in housing benefit and £52,249 in council tax benefit. These are the two areas in which the year long trial of the technology was being tested. The system is also being used in Birmingham, Coventry, Chester-le-Street, Durham, Derwentside, Edinburgh, Lambeth, Rochford, Hinckley and Bosworth, Sedgefield, Warwick and Wealden.
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