Skip to content
Search
AI Powered
Latest Stories

Post Office to sign £180m deal to extend scandal-hit Horizon system for five more years

Post Office to sign £180m deal to extend scandal-hit Horizon system for five more years
Fujitsu, the tech company at the heart of the UK's Post Office scandal, has suffered a financial blow with a billion dollars (£768 million) wiped off its value within eight days of the ITV show 'Mr. Bates vs The Post Office'. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Fujitsu's Horizon IT system that sparked hundreds of wrongful prosecutions against innocent sub-postmasters could be set to be used by the Post Office for another five years in a £180 million deal.

According to Computer Weekly, despite the Post Office looking for a replacement IT system, the Fujitsu is set to receive a further £180m in taxpayers’ cash to extend its contract to run the controversial Post Office Horizon IT system for a further five years.


The report adds that Post Office has requested £1bn of extra public funding from the Treasury to get the programme back on track. The budget has spiraled from £180m to £1.1bn, and the implementation has slipped from 2025 to 2030.

The existing contract with Fujitsu to run Horizon is due to conclude in March 2025, and the aim was to have a replacement system in place by that time. The supplier has reportedly told the government that, if both parties agree to extend the contract, it is willing to do so on the same basis as a previous one-year extension, which cost the Post Office £36m.

The Post Office is subsidised by the government, so continued use of the software could cost the taxpayer a reported £180 million, based on a current £36 million yearly contract spend for five years.

Fujitsu is believed to have earned over £2.5bn from its Horizon contract across the 25 years the system has been in use by the Post Office.

Horizon is a retail and accounting system used in Post Office branches, which was introduced in 1999 to replace mainly manual accounting practices. Originally from ICL, which was acquired by Fujitsu in 2002, it was rolled out across the Post Office branch network from 1999.

Horizon’s introduction led to a sudden increase in subpostmasters reporting unexplained shortfalls in their accounts, for which they were blamed. The Post Office told each of them that nobody else was experiencing problems and covered up the computer errors. A High Court case in 2019 proved that bugs in Horizon caused the phantom accounting losses for which hundreds of subpostmasters were wrongfully prosecuted.

Meanwhile, sub-postmaster justice campaigner Robert Trinder told the Telegraph Fujitsu should donate any profits from the deal to Horizon victims.

He said, “We want the new system to be the right one when it does come in, so we understand that there needs to be a new system.

“However, it would have been nice to see Fujitsu do this work for free and donate the £180 million to victims of the scandal. It is a possibility that people will be put off buying post offices if they know Horizon software is still installed.”

More for you

No Smoking sign in Swedish

A sign in Swedish says No Smoking in Stockholm, Sweden

Photo: iStock

Sweden achieves historic smokefree milestone

Sweden has inched closer to becoming officially ‘smoke free’, government figures released on Wednesday have shown.

Smoking prevalence across the country reduced to 5.3 per cent, according to the health data released by Sweden’s public health agency, but the figure is just 4.5 per cent among the nation’s Swedish-born adults – significantly below the globally recognised benchmark of 5 per cent for smoke free status.

Keep ReadingShow less
Post office shop
Photo: iStock

Post Office unveils plan to add additional £250m annually to postmaster incomes

Post Office has on Wednesday set out an ambitious five-year Transformation Plan to deliver a ‘New Deal for Postmasters’ that significantly increases their total annual income through revenue sharing and strengthens their role in the direction of the organisation.

The ‘New Deal for Postmasters’ follows a strategic review initiated by Nigel Railton, chair of Post Office Ltd, in May. The Transformation Plan sets out an ambition to deliver a quarter of a billion pounds boost to postmasters’ income by 2030.

Keep ReadingShow less
high street store
Photo: iStock

Businesses to get ‘right to rent’ long-term vacant shops as High Street Rental Auctions set to take effect

Councils will be handed new powers next month in an effort to breathe new life back into high streets and transform long-term empty shops, the government has announced.

High Street Rental Auctions (HSRAs) will allow local leaders to tackle persistently vacant properties in city, town and village centres by putting the leases up for auction, with businesses and community groups getting a ‘right to rent’ commercial lots.

Keep ReadingShow less
St Neots Rugby Club

Nisa Local St Neots donates £800 to support St Neots Rugby Club

St Neots store supports local rugby club with £800 donation

Nisa Local Longsand Parade in St Neots, a convenience store owned and operated by TYS Retail LTD, has donated £800 to St Neots Rugby Club through Nisa's Making a Difference Locally (MADL) charity.

The donation will be used to purchase new rugby kits for the club's youth teams.

Keep ReadingShow less
Regulator clears Arla Foods’ acquisition of Volac Whey Nutrition

Regulator clears Arla Foods’ acquisition of Volac Whey Nutrition

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has approved Arla Foods Ingredients’ acquisition of Volac’s Whey Nutrition business.

The regulator’s go-ahead follows an evaluation that took place after an acquisition agreement was signed in April.

Keep ReadingShow less