AI agent · Public sector · Review against rules
Application eligibility
The agent reads each application and its evidence, tests it against the scheme criteria one by one, and writes down why a file fails. Officers decide the ambiguous files and every refusal.
Typical volumes for this process, not a client figure.
Each application read and checked against a set of criteria.
Pre-checked and scored; officers spend their time on the ambiguous ones.
Where the time goes today
An officer opens each application, reads the form, then works through the attachments: payslips, tax or benefit statements, a tenancy agreement, proof of residence, identity and status documents. The criteria sit in a guidance note that can run to dozens of pages. The officer checks income against the ceiling for this household size, residence against the qualifying period, age or status against the scheme's conditions. Most files are clearly eligible or clearly not. The officer still reads every one in full.
Time goes on finding the right figure in a scanned payslip, converting weekly pay to an annual amount, working out which of three addresses applied on which date, and comparing the household on the form with the names on the lease. Errors come from two officers reading the same guidance differently, a ceiling revised mid-year and applied from the wrong date, or a refusal letter citing the wrong reason, which then fails on appeal. At deadline peaks, the few files that need real judgement wait in the same queue as the hundreds that do not.
How the agent works
- Read the fileThe agent reads the form and every attachment, including scans and photographs, and pulls out the values the criteria need: declared income, household members, addresses with dates, status documents. Each value keeps a pointer to the page it came from.
- Reconcile the declarationsIt compares what the applicant declared with what the evidence shows: household on the form against the tenancy agreement, income on the form against the payslips. Contradictions are recorded, not resolved.
- Test each criterionIt applies the criteria in the version in force on the application date, one at a time, and records met, not met or cannot tell for each, with the evidence used.
- Write the reasonsFor each criterion not met, it drafts the reason in plain words, citing the rule and the document, so an officer can check it in a minute and the applicant can follow it.
- Route the fileClear passes go to approval as the scheme's rules allow. Proposed refusals, contradictions and cannot-tell results go to an officer, sorted by what needs looking at.
What stays with a person
Officers keep every decision the criteria do not settle: an ambiguous document, circumstances the guidance did not foresee, discretionary provisions, hardship. Every proposed refusal is decided by an officer, who sees the agent's reasoning but is not bound by it. The agent does not write to applicants about a refusal and does not close a file.
A person also owns the criteria. When the scheme changes, a named officer updates the rule set and its effective date, and the change is run against past files before it applies to new ones. Policy stays with the service, not with the software.
What it reads, what it produces
| It reads | It produces |
|---|---|
| The application form, submitted online or on paper | A criterion-by-criterion checklist per application, each line citing its evidence |
| Income evidence: payslips, tax notices, benefit statements | A draft reason for every criterion not met |
| Proof of residence, tenancy or ownership documents | Routed queues: clear pass, contradiction, needs an officer |
| Identity and status documents | A weekly summary of outcomes and officer overrides |
| The scheme criteria and guidance, with effective dates | |
| The case management record, including earlier applications |
Controls that come with it
- The agent cannot issue a refusal; every proposed refusal goes to an officer.
- A sample of clear passes is reviewed by officers each week, at a rate set from the measured error rate and what a wrong approval costs the scheme.
- Criteria are versioned with effective dates, and each file records which version applied.
- A value read with low confidence is marked cannot tell rather than guessed.
- Each file keeps a trace: documents read, values extracted, rules applied, route chosen. A wrong approval is reopened through the service's normal review procedure, with that trace attached.
How you know it works
- Agreement between the agent's proposal and the officer's final decision, criterion by criterion, on past files held back for testing
- Share of applications routed to an officer, broken down by reason
- Days from submission to decision, for clear files and routed files separately
- Decisions overturned on review or appeal, before and after go-live
Is your process ready?
- The criteria are written and current, with dates: income ceilings, residence periods, household rules. If eligibility depends on unwritten local practice, write that down first.
- The case management system lets software read a file and post a status, through an interface or an export, and the supplier contract permits it.
- An officer can confirm or reject the checklist in a few minutes, because every line points to the page it relied on.
- The scheme receives enough applications, steadily or in peaks, that officer time spent on clear files is a real cost.
- Two officers given the same clear file reach the same answer. Where they do not, the guidance needs fixing before any software.
The five candidacy checks are explained, with an exam, in the free Module 01.
What goes wrong
- Criteria revised mid-year are applied to applications submitted before the change. Effective dates must be part of the rule set from day one.
- Household composition produces legitimate contradictions (separated parents, shared custody, lodgers) that no rule settles. These belong with an officer.
- Reasons drafted for officers find their way into letters to applicants unedited. Letters need their own wording and review.
- The test set includes files that were decided wrongly. Use past files whose outcome survived review or appeal.
Questions we get
Does the agent refuse applications?
No. It proposes. Every refusal is decided by an officer, who sees the criteria that failed, the evidence used and the draft reason. Where the scheme allows automated approval, clear passes can go straight to approval; if your rules require a person to approve every case, the agent prepares the file and the officer signs. Which outcomes may be automated is a decision the service makes once and records.
How do we know it applies the criteria correctly?
Before go-live it runs on past applications whose decisions are known and survived review. You compare its proposal with the officer's decision, criterion by criterion, and read every disagreement. The same set is rerun whenever the criteria or the underlying model change. After go-live, officers review a weekly sample of clear passes, and every override is logged with its reason.
What happens when the scheme criteria change?
A named officer updates the rule set with the date it takes effect. The agent applies the version in force on the application date, not today's, and records which one it used. Before the change goes live, the new rules run against past files, so you can see which decisions would move and confirm that is what the policy intends.
Can it handle paper applications and other languages?
Paper forms and attachments are scanned and read like any other document, and several languages can be read, with values recorded in one common form. Handwriting and poor scans are the weak point. Where a figure cannot be read with confidence, the criterion is marked cannot tell and the file goes to an officer instead of being decided on a guess.
Want this agent on your process?
Tell us about your version of this process — volumes, systems, what goes wrong. A person answers with an approach and a price, usually within two working days, or tells you it is the wrong project.