Selling Universal Credit: The Data Imaginary of Real-Time Information

Drawing on the theoretical framework of the data imaginary—mobilizing the promises of data and algorithms to use technology in tactical ways suited to specific goals and interests—we provide a novel analysis of policymakers’ claims about the Real-Time Information (RTI) payment system, a key technology underpinning the UK's largest social security benefit, Universal Credit. RTI promises to accelerate data flows on work activity, creating a responsive and accurate system for better decision-making. Drawing on parliamentary debates, we describe lawmakers’ depiction of RTI as allowing more granular assessments of job outcomes (a key metric of policy success), and a new form of control that optimizes claimants’ incentives to work while mitigating error and fraud. We find opinions toward Universal Credit fragmenting after the rollout, as constituents complained to lawmakers about RTI data inaccuracies, and a punitive Universal Credit system. We propose the concept of “experiential friction” for this disjuncture between the government's data imaginary of RTI and claimants’ direct experiences with it. We contribute to work on sociotechnical imaginaries and welfare reform by showing that policymakers mobilized the RTI data imaginary to legitimate introducing Universal Credit, even as problems emerged and lawmakers began contesting the predominant claims.