HM Revenue and Customs has reached a £175 million, 10-year deal with London-based Quantexa to use Artificial Intelligence to overhaul how it handles data and improve its ability to catch fraud and administrative errors. The agreement is described as one of the largest Artificial Intelligence deployments in the public sector and is aimed at giving HMRC a stronger data foundation for more advanced fraud detection.
The system is intended to bring together HMRC’s fragmented data silos and sift through complex webs of shell companies and directors used in large-scale VAT and payroll frauds. Quantexa said it can connect billions of data points to identify high-probability targets that currently go undetected. The technology is also expected to help HMRC redirect staff and resources away from routine tasks and toward professional criminal networks.
The deployment will operate within HMRC’s own secure environment. Quantexa staff working with the government will be kept separate from the rest of the business, and HMRC will remain the “data controller” for legal purposes. That structure sets the project apart from some other public-sector Artificial Intelligence deployments that have raised concerns about external firms accessing UK citizens’ data.
Quantexa said decisions produced by the system will remain transparent, auditable and explainable. Automated decisions will still require approval by human staff, reflecting ongoing scrutiny of Artificial Intelligence systems as their use expands across legal and government settings. The emphasis on human oversight is intended to reduce the risk of unsupported or erroneous information influencing official processes.
