DWP set to launch AI rollout which could result in 1.15 million job losses

The Department for Work and Pensions could automate 40 per cent of tasks under sweeping artificial intelligence (AI) changes. The DWP has come under pressure from former Labour Party leader Sir Tony Blair and his Institute to automate.

Sir Tony has launched a policy paper pushing the potential for government to save billions of pounds a year through the greater use of artificial intelligence across the public sector. Blair's group has published a report suggesting that the adoption of AI across the UK public sector could save around 20 per cent of workforce time.

It would amount to to £10 BILLION a year by the end of the new parliament. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Blair - who came to power with new Labour back in 1996 - said: “Government’s all about process. You can automate a lot of these processes."

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Sir Tony, who left the role as PM at Number 10 Downing Street before being succeeded by the next Prime Minister Gordon Brown, also said: "We have a report specifically around the saving of workforce time in the public sector, which we estimate at 20 per cent.

"But in the DWP… where we’ve done a deep dive with one of the UK’s leading AI companies, we believe that you could automate 40 per cent of the tasks there." And Sir Tony went on to say: "And also, by the way, give a much better service to people.”

The TBI, which published the report today (Thursday July 11) said that by the end of the next parliament, the annual savings could be £34 BILLION a year. A related paper on impact for the public sector workforce acknowledged that over the two-decade period around 1.15 million jobs would be lost as a result of the drive.

It said the cost of those job losses would be redundancy payments in the region of £24 BILLION at today's prices.