Universal Credit and Automated Decision Making: A Case of the Digital Tail Wagging the Policy Dog?

• Published in: Social policy and society : a journal of the Social Policy Association Vol. 23; no. 1; pp. 1 - 18
• Main Author: Griffiths, Rita
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.01.2024
• Subjects: Algorithms; Automation; Claimants; Cost control; Credit; Decision making; Design; Earnings; Effectiveness; Efficiency; Employment; Entitlement; Internet access; Pandemics; Qualitative research; Reforms; Universal Credit; Welfare; Working parents; United Kingdom > UK; Universal Credit; automation; automated decision making; welfare reform; digitalisation

Intended to simplify the benefit system and ’make work pay’, Universal Credit (UC) is the UK’s first ‘digital by design’ benefit. Proponents of UC highlight the greater efficiency and effectiveness of digitalisation, while critics point to costly IT write-offs and the ‘digital divide’ between people...