People with disabilities, those living in poverty or who have serious health conditions are being left in a bureaucratic limbo due to digital exclusion caused by the Department of Work and Pensions’ (DWP) unchecked roll-out of technologies, Amnesty International said today in a new report.

The report, “Too Much Technology, Not Enough empathy” exposes how the DWP’s constant testing, rolling out, and rolling back of costly artificial intelligence (AI) and digital technologies for Universal Credit (UC), Personal Independence Payment (PIP), and other social security schemes has created an inaccessible social security system for people who are already marginalized and at risk of poverty in the UK.

Many people requiring social security do not have access to digital technologies, internet or internet connected devices. Their affordability coupled with language barriers and long waiting times for telephone services have led to digital exclusion from DWP’s systems.