Automated UK welfare system needs more human contact, ministers warned

Exclusive: research reveals 350 low-paid workers a day are raising complaints about errors in benefit top-ups

More human contact is needed in the UK’s automated welfare system, ministers have been warned, as it emerged 350 low-paid workers every day are raising complaints about errors in welfare top-ups, causing financial hardship and emotional stress.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) handled 126,286 disputes about errors made by its decade-old automated “real-time information” (RTI) system in 2022, a freedom of information request revealed.