{"slug": "office-of-the-public-guardian-develops-ai-tool-to-probe-financial-abuse-concerns", "title": "Office of the Public Guardian develops AI tool to probe financial abuse concerns", "summary": "The Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) is trialling an AI tool called 'Investigations Assistant' to speed up investigations into financial abuse concerns involving lasting power of attorney cases. The tool, powered by Microsoft Azure, categorises bank transactions and nearly halved manual categorisation time in initial testing, with a controlled live pilot planned. OPG received 3,645 concerns accepted into investigations in 2025-26.", "body_md": "##### Agency is using Microsoft Azure-powered “Investigations Assistant” to check spending decisions made on behalf of people covered by a lasting power of attorney because they cannot look after their own finances\n\nThe Office of the Public Guardian is trialling the use of an artificial intelligence tool to speed up investigations into concerns about financial misappropriation or abuse committed against people who are the subject of a lasting power of attorney.\n\nThe OPG, which is an executive agency sponsored by the Ministry of Justice, exists to look out for the interests of people in England and Wales who cannot make important decisions for themselves. When such individuals are the subject of a lasting power of attorney – or an enduring power of attorney – and concerns are raised about the potential misuse of those arrangements, OPG has the power to investigate.\n\nAccording to the OPG’s annual report and accounts for 2025-26, a total of 3,645 concerns raised with the agency were accepted into investigations over the course of the year.\n\nA transparency document published this month by the Cabinet Office and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology says the OPG has developed a digital tool to support investigators analysing and categorising financial data from bank statements provided to the agency in response to concerns being raised.\n\nIt says the “Investigations Assistant” is an AI‑enabled workflow designed to support checking processes when concerns raised relating to financial misappropriation or abuse trigger an investigation.\n\n### Related content\n\n[Student Loans Company sheds light on automated decision-making for finance applications](https://www.publictechnology.net/2025/10/10/education-and-skills/student-loans-company-sheds-light-on-automated-decision-making-for-finance-applications/)[HMPPS sheds light on prisoner ‘violence estimator’ algorithm](https://www.publictechnology.net/2025/07/09/public-order-justice-and-rights/hmpps-sheds-light-on-prisoner-violence-estimator-algorithm/)[HMRC algorithm for automated council tax valuations offers ‘greater consistency and quality’](https://www.publictechnology.net/2025/08/06/economics-and-finance/hmrc-algorithm-for-automated-council-tax-valuations-offers-greater-consistency-and-quality/)\n\nThe automated assistant supports “routine, time‑consuming tasks” that investigations and support staff currently carry out manually, like categorising financial transactions detailed on bank statements, such as payments for utility bills, care fees and cash withdrawals. Identifying spending that may not be in the best interests of an individual subject to an LPA or EPA is the purpose of the categorisation.\n\nOPG’s [entry for the project](https://www.gov.uk/algorithmic-transparency-records/office-of-public-guardian-investigations-assistant) on the government’s Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standard Hub says that initial testing and evaluation for the tool found it “almost halved” the time it would take investigators to manually categorise transactions.\n\nIt adds that the time savings “will now be further validated in a controlled live pilot”. In addition to reducing manual effort, other benefits of the tool are said to include improved consistency and clearer audit trails.\n\nThe OPG says Microsoft supported the development of the tool by providing technical expertise and configuring the underlying AI services it uses. The agency said this included setting up secure Azure‑based components, helping to build the AI workflows such as document processing, financial transaction categorisation and ensuring the system is deployed safely. OPG said Microsoft has no access to the data used by the tool.\n\nIn addition to categorising financial transactions, the tool highlights individual items that might require further investigation.\n\nInvestigators review all AI outputs before anything is progressed or shared. They also check the categorisation of transactions for accuracy, correct any errors and complete the categorisation for any flagged transactions.\n\nAccording to the OPG, “human review is the formal assurance step”. It says “nothing produced by the tool is used without an investigator’s oversight and sign‑off”.\n\nThe transparency document does not give a timescale for full adoption of the AI tool, but confirms that it is “designed for day‑to‑day use across investigations” and expected to be used to support investigations that involve financial categorisation and later analysis.\n\nThe OPG says staff training will be rolled out and that use of the tool will “scale gradually through the pilot phase and expand as staff become familiar with the workflow and ongoing evaluation of the tool/workflows”.\n\n*PublicTechnology* offered the OPG the opportunity to comment further on the development of the AI tool.\n\nIt stressed that AI output produced by the assistant is treated as an initial categorisation and that investigators are required to verify, amend, or reject categorisations – and retain responsibility for identifying transactions that warrant further enquiries.\n\nAn OPG spokesperson said: “We’re committed to tackling financial mismanagement or abuse under lasting powers of attorney. This AI tool supports staff to improve analysis, speed up investigations and ensure better protection for vulnerable people. All insights are reviewed by a human investigator who is responsible for decision-making.”", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/office-of-the-public-guardian-develops-ai-tool-to-probe-financial-abuse-concerns", "canonical_source": "https://www.publictechnology.net/2026/08/26/society-and-welfare/office-of-the-public-guardian-develops-ai-tool-to-probe-financial-abuse-concerns/", "published_at": "2026-08-26 01:02:00+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-26 01:13:08.534421+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-tools", "ai-policy"], "entities": ["Office of the Public Guardian", "Ministry of Justice", "Microsoft", "Cabinet Office", "Department for Science, Innovation and Technology"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/office-of-the-public-guardian-develops-ai-tool-to-probe-financial-abuse-concerns", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/office-of-the-public-guardian-develops-ai-tool-to-probe-financial-abuse-concerns.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/office-of-the-public-guardian-develops-ai-tool-to-probe-financial-abuse-concerns.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/office-of-the-public-guardian-develops-ai-tool-to-probe-financial-abuse-concerns.jsonld"}}