The UK Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) faced legal action to reveal details of an 'unfair' 'General Matching Service' algorithm it used to identify benefit fraud.

The Greater Manchester Coalition of Disabled People (GMCDP) demanded the DWP reveal how it uses 'AI, algorithmic technology and other forms of automation' when investigating benefit fraud, specifically details of a data matching algorithm that the department is known to use.

The GMCDP alleged that disabled people were being unfairly targeted, are subject to 'essential' cash cuts and are given little or no information about why they are being investigated. 

The legal letter was the second sent by the GMCDP on the subject. The first was issued in December 2021.

Early 2021, Privacy International had accused the DWP of using 'excessive surveillance techniques' to investigate possible benefit fraudsters.

Timeline ⏰

• May 2025. Foxglove announced it would not proceed with the lawsuit as the DWP algorithm, to the best of its knowledge, "is not making decisions that result in disabled people being unfairly targeted for benefit fraud investigations."