A response to the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation's Call for Evidence: Review into bias in algorithmic decision-making
Over the last five years, Social Finance has supported 35+ local authorities in the use of data and technology to improve social services and outcomes.
Our extensive experience of working with local government puts us in a unique position to comment on the use of algorithms in social care.
Many of our local government partners are currently experimenting with algorithmic decision-making or are heading in that direction. To date, we have been engaged to explore the use of algorithms in issue areas such as homelessness, healthcare, ‘Not in Education, Employment or Training,’ (NEET), children’s social care, school readiness and school exclusion.
While we recognize the potential for algorithms to play a positive role in improving public services, we believe that this needs to be balanced with a series of ethical and practical considerations. This report covers six key recommendations.