The BBC has revealed that the Post Office paid over £600m of public money to continue using Fujitsu’s Horizon IT system despite not having used it for a decade.
It adds that many politicians, including ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair, were warned about problems that would arise from the deal the Post Office signed with the tech company in advance of it being signed. It notes that it was essentially stuck with the system – which led to the biggest miscarriage of justice in the UK – due to a £548m contract signed in 1999.
The problem, the BBC says, came down to technical coding relating to transactions in the system - which the Post Office did not own rights to, leaving it powerless to change supplier, despite it wanting to in as early as 2012.
This dependency even lead to the group trialling a different system with IBM, costing £40m, which later failed. As a result, it extended its contract with Fujitsu for at least four more years at a cost of £107m.
IT experts are quoted as believing the contract with Fujitsu will need to be extended beyond March 2026 when it’s due to end.
The BBC has also obtained a document sent to then-Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, as well as other government officials, warning about the code. However, a spokesperson for Gordon Brown, speaking to the BBC, said he “would not have been shown the memo” from 20 May 1999 and would only have been copied in as “a formality.”
Many of the wrongly accused sub-postmasters maintained their innocence throughout, with several not living to see justice. Many, of course, are still trying to deal with the technology.
Responding to the report, to both the BBC and Convenience Store, a spokesperson from the Post Office said: “The 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.”
A statement specific to the Horizon IT Scandal reads: ”We apologise unreservedly to victims of the Horizon IT Scandal. Apologies must be underpinned by action if we are to earn back trust. We are implementing changes across the entire organisation so that we can build a Post Office fit for the future, fundamentally changed and with postmasters at its heart.”
Read our story on the most recent claims made by victims here, and our breakdown of the final phase of the initial report into the scandal here.
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