Story perspectives

Bristol Council hides scrapped risk scores, man still flagged

6/25/2026

Summary

Story summary

Bristol City Council refused WIRED’s interview requests and withheld details about its discontinued predictive risk-scoring system.
The council said it only used analytics to flag children at risk of NEET and that staff never relied on the scores.
A council employee questioned whether the public knows the authorities possess such data.
John Pegram, a mixed-race man, remained listed in an offender-management app in 2024, raising doubts about fairness.

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Story summary

Bristol City Council refused WIRED’s interview requests and withheld details about its discontinued predictive risk-scoring system.
The council said it only used analytics to flag children at risk of NEET and that staff never relied on the scores.
A council employee questioned whether the public knows the authorities possess such data.
John Pegram, a mixed-race man, remained listed in an offender-management app in 2024, raising doubts about fairness.