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Daily Mail
25-04-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Post Office forks out eye-watering £600m to keep using faulty Horizon system despite IT scandal and decision to ditch its creator Fujitsu 10 years ago!
The Post Office has paid an astonishing £600m-plus for its hopelessly flawed Horizon computer system - since deciding to get rid of it. Fujitsu had won a £548m contract to provide the money-handling Information Technology system in 1999 in the first place. In total the Post Office has paid a mind-boggling £2.5bn for Horizon. Consistent glitches in the software led to 700 postmasters being convicted of pocketing the money for themselves, from the launch of Horizon to 2015, with dozens jailed. Thousands more were forced to pay non-existent shortfalls Yet the Government only finally got to grips with the scandal last year, following the broadcast of ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office. Disgraced former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells was stripped of her CBE in the programme's wake, her crocodile tears while giving evidence at the Post Office Inquiry drawing little sympathy. A bill was finally fast-tracked through parliament to quash most of the convictions involving Horizon. Yet despite their exoneration, many postmasters still await compensation. Meanwhile, the very firm behind Horizon has continued making a mint from its shoddy product. According to the BBC, since the Post Office decided to replace Horizon in 2012, it has paid Japanese firm Fujitsu more than £600m, on top of the £548m agreed in the first place by Tony Blair's Labour Government, and numerous other interim payments. Horizon is still being used now, with no replacement ready – and it is claimed that Prime Minister Blair had been warned that the contract terms with Fujitsu would potentially make it difficult for the Post Office to break it off without huge expense. And because Horizon is still in use, problems continue, with seven in ten sub-postmasters last year surveyed by the Post Office Inquiry saying it still produced 'unexplained discrepancies' in accounts. The Post Office long accepted Fujitsu's false assurances there were no problems with the IT system, despite mounting evidence, and ploughed on with wrongful private prosecutions, even when it did seek an improvement, the 1999 contract proved a problem. Before the deal was signed, Premier Sir Tony Blair had been warned in May 1999 there was an issue over the fact that Fujitsu would retain ownership of Horizon software computer code. As a result, a document reveals, the premier was advised that if the Post Office tried to switch to another IT firm, Fujitsu 'would be in a strong position to drive a costly settlement'. Then-chancellor Gordon Brown was also sent a document raising the issue over the ownership of the computer code, it is claimed. Yet the then-Labour Government signed the contract regardless. It meant the Post Office did not own the key computer code at Horizon's heart, and had 18,000 branches reliant upon it. So when it wanted to switch to a different IT firm in 2012, it was left with a choice of paying a price for that code set by Fujitsu – or forking out for entirely new software, at vast cost. Computing expert Jason Coyne, who was at the forefront of exposing flaws in the Post Office computer system, says it was 'madness' to take on Horizon while not owning its software programme. The Post Office finally bought the rights to the by-then-infamous computer code in 2023, for a 'cheap' £10m, and it is understood it may be used as a basis for a replacement. Even so, it is feared even more tens of millions will end up being handed over the Fujitsu after the current extension agreement with the firm expires next March. A spokesman for Sir Tony Blair would not discuss the details of the Horizon contract discussions in 1999, but said everything was taken 'very seriously'. The spokesman added: 'The final decision was taken after an investigation by an independent panel recommended it was viable. 'It is now clear that the Horizon product was seriously flawed, leading to tragic and completely unacceptable consequences, and Mr Blair has deep sympathy with all those affected.' A spokesman for Gordon Brown said he would not have seen the memo about the contract, with it only sent to his office as a 'formality'. The fact no-one had refused to accept Fujitsu retaining ownership of the software code meant that by 2013, according to documents unearthed in the Post Office Inquiry, executives were being warned it meant 'we may be unable to agree…with Fujitsu on reasonable terms'. And in 2016, a year after the last Horizon-based prosecution of a postmaster, Fujitsu's ownership appears likely to have scuppered talks with the IBM computing giant over it being brought in instead. Procurement contracts expert Ian Makgill said: 'Fujitsu were fighting the whole time to protect their investment and their intellectual property, rather than looking after the interests of the sub-postmasters.' Fujitsu has declined to discuss details of it control of Horizon, but said it is 'focused on supporting the Post Office in their plans for a new service delivery model'. Fujitsu's total of some 200 contracts with the Government over the last decade alone amount to £6.7bn, and counting. It means the creator of Horizon continues coining it in long since the Post Office scandal was becoming widely known, let alone to its postmaster victims including campaign leader Sir Alan Bates, knighted last year after the success of the drama in which he was played by actor Toby Jones. A Post Office spokesperson told the Daily Mail a move away from Horizon and Fujitsu was ongoing, adding: 'Post Office has a five-year plan to deliver a 'new deal for postmasters' and put the organisation on a solid footing for future success. 'We are looking at Post Office's technology and data strategically, to ensure that we reduce central costs and provide postmasters with the tools they need to serve their customers and run profitable businesses into the future.'
BBC News
11-02-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Post Office scandal: Stockton former sub-postmaster receives compensation
A former sub-postmaster who was wrongly convicted amid the Horizon scandal said he could finally do the things he should have done for 20 years, after receiving a £600,000 Bell, 76, was a sub-postmaster in Stockton, Teesside, between 1987 and 2002, when he was convicted of false was among hundreds of others wrongly prosecuted due to faulty accountancy software used by the Post Office, which showed errors that did not exist."Because of that conviction I lost jobs, I was unable to find work that could support my family, basically, and I became bankrupt," he said. Last May, the government quashed all convictions which were part of the Post Office scandal and Mr Bell said the U-turn had been a "huge relief".He added daily life had been a "struggle" over the past 20 years, but he was very lucky his customers and friends had been "very kind", while he was aware other sub-postmasters had a "terrible time". 'TV drama inspired me' Mr Bell had to do 200 hours of community services when he was said it was hard to know what compensation he should have received and he did not feel entirely vindicated."There's parts of my life I'll never be able to have over, but now I've got a chance to do things I haven't been able to do," he said."I decided that at my age I wanted to accept the offer that was given to me, I could have appealed for more, but that would have meant the process going on for years." Mr Bell, who told the BBC in December he had still not received "a penny", said he was inspired to fight for compensation by the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post said: "I never, ever, thought I'd be in a position to challenge the Post Office, I didn't know enough about IT, I didn't have enough legal knowledge, nor did I have the funds to do it - I just decided I needed to put my weight behind the Nigel Railton has previously said the Post Office was "learning from the serious failings of the past".Parliament's Business and Trade Select Committee has called for changes to the way compensation was being delivered, due to the ongoing Office Minister Gareth Thomas told the BBC in January the amount being paid out had doubled in the last six months and the government was trying to make schemes "less legalistic, less adversarial". Follow BBC Tees on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram. Send your story ideas here.
