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A mother of three has accused a council of “dehumanising” treatment after it wrongly cut her housing benefit, before trying to evict her when she couldn’t pay her rent.
Maya – not her real name – was stripped of benefit payments by her local authority in 2021, leading to £20,000 in rent arrears building up over the next three years. Wandsworth Council then took her to court over the unpaid bills in an attempt to evict her from her home.
However, after a three-year battle, the council has finally accepted it acted unlawfully in axing the payment and has paid £19,281.06 in backdated benefits.
Maya’s lawyers believe the mistake was likely made after her application was deemed “high risk” by a defective algorithm used by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to tackle benefits fraud.
The Wandsworth resident, who works at a local community kitchen preparing hot meals for people in need, says the stress took a severe toll on her health. She suffered hair loss, sleepless nights and anxiety while caring for her newborn child.
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“You’re being dealt with like you’re not human,” the 40-year-old mother told The Independent, referring to the use of machine algorithms to profile benefits claimants. “I can see why people have turned to drugs and coping mechanisms because if I didn’t have loved ones around me, that’s exactly where I would be.”
As part of the housing benefit accuracy award initiative (HBAAI), the DWP algorithm profiles benefits claimants based on their personal details. Some 400,000 of the two million claimants are flagged as “high risk” and face a full case review by the council, Big Brother Watch (BBW) said. But a third of such claims between 2021 to 2024 were not found to be legitimate, according to FOI data obtained by the civil liberties group.
When Maya’s housing benefit was stripped in July 2021, she was living in council-provided temporary accommodation. She began to receive eviction notices from the council, twice receiving a notice while with her young child in intensive care in hospital.
“My hair fell out,” she said. “I had so many sleepless nights. I had just had a baby.”
Solicitor Dirghayu Patel from Lawstop took on her case and, along with Jeremy Ogilvie-Harris, pupil barrister at Cornerstone Barristers, threatened the council with a judicial review claim at the High Court. Within two days, the council conceded it had acted unlawfully, and paid out.
“I’m just worn out,” Maya said. “Yes, I am relieved that I won the case. But why do I have to go through that in the first place?
“I took on so much stress, I was having sleepless nights, even reading through one document was hard for me. I just felt complete anxiety to open any letter. It was a nightmare.”
Councillor Angela Ireland, cabinet member for finance, said there was an “administrative error” that was corrected after following the statutory review process.
“We are now confident that the claimant is receiving all of the benefits that they are entitled to,” she said. “Wandsworth Council is committed to providing safe, secure, and affordable housing for all those that need it and endeavours to use lessons learned to improve our process and practice.”
The DWP said it was unable to verify whether Maya was profiled by the algorithm due to a lack of information.
“The [HBAAI] is a tool provided to local authorities to support them in keeping claims correct, it is for the local authority to carry out any claim reviews and make decisions on individuals’ benefit entitlement,” a spokesperson added.
