BBC - Benefit staff to use lie detectors

cifpower

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6528425.stm

The technology is already used by the insurance industry to combat fraud and will be trialled by Harrow Council, in north London, from May.

It will be tested on housing and council tax benefit claims first, before being rolled out to job centres later in the year.

I find this very scary - will all claimants be deemed as being fraudsters first? :eek:

reehsetin

doesnt say or maybe i missed it whether they will use this with everyone or in cases where they suspect
either way they would 'Benefits staff can then ask for further evidence to support any suspicious claims.' so if people are genuine they should be able to produce supporting evidence and still get paid

cifpower

Everyone who claims HB and CTB from Harrow and then everyone who claims from JobCentres will have their voice analysed to see if they are lying. Based on this, extra information will or will not be asked for.

That's my reading of it.

changkra

If you're not cheating the benefit system then the clsimant has nothing to worry about.

sarahlouise210

Personally I think that hearing a recorded message stating that lie detecting software will run throughout the call ....can only put even the most deserving of claimant on edge! on the few occasions that I have had to phone our insurance company I have always been on edge as if I am being scrutinised ...I have had nothing to hide yet felt anxious that they may think I did! I am normally a very confident person but I often feel this way. I have been interviewed by the police on a few occasions as a witness ..each time I have felt completely awkward and worried that they may think I am lying...I have also felt this way when speaking to my doctor I cant explain it...but its like feeling guilty about something when you know you have nothing to feel guilty about! So...to sum up ... I dont like the idea!......I think it could cause some fragile people real distress.

Morglin

I ring most of the agencies on behalf of other people (as do others in voluntary benefit work), so this idea will often fall at the first hurdle.

Doh.

Another idea that will be quietly dropped in a few months.

Lin:rolleyes:

Chrysalis

If they using this as a sole way to judge claimants so if one fails they taken of based on that alone I dont like this at all. Anyone been tested on a lie detector will get stressed and could make the result wrong not to mention the stress caused to the claimant. Lie detectors are not 100% accurate like some are led to believe and I think is a breach of basic human rights.

maryotuam

And what about Tax Cheats? Why not use it on them also. It would have been interesting to find out how Dame Shirley Porter would have done if she had been lie tested. Here's an interesting thought...Tony Blair undergoing a lie detector test live on TV.
Any one involved in using public money too. If it was used across the board instead of one section of society, I mightn't be against the idea!

lottee

changkra wrote: »

If you're not cheating the benefit system then the clsimant has nothing to worry about.

I second that.

Nilrem

changkra wrote: »

If you're not cheating the benefit system then the clsimant has nothing to worry about.

Except that such software doesn't always work very well, it can and does give both false positives and false negatives and so needs to be combined with training of the people who are using it and common sense (both of which are sorely lacking in my experience with the people involved in making the decisions).

Some people get very stressed just ringing up to sort out their claims, even when they have nothing to hide, I'd be very worried about how this system is going to cope with things like that.
What I fear is going to happen is that the staff are going to end up relying heavily on this system not understanding it's limits, and thus cause more problems than it solves.


This government has a fixation on technology, it's going to cure all the countries ills from benefit fraud to terrorism (ID cards for example have been touted at various times as some form of panacea), when in reality better training for staff, and staff retention (so they get some experience in their jobs) is often a better way to deal with things.

Morglin

Lie detectors are unreliable. That's why they are not allowed in criminal cases.

besides which, when a person rings weither the DWP or HB, and has been subjected to about 30 menu options, been waiting in a queue for ages, possibly cut off a few times, listened to The Four Seasons umpteen times, then been passed around a department to be given the wrong information anyway, I should think that stress levels are through the roof in most claimants as a matter of course.:rolleyes:

Lin