MPs criticise Fujitsu for not contributing ‘a penny’ to Post Office redress

A group of MPs has hit out at Fujitsu for being “yet to contribute a penny” to the nearly £1.5 billion redress bill for victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal and called for urgent action to quash pre-Horizon convictions.

The Business and Trade Committee (BTC), which scrutinises the work of the Government department, said it had found “serious structural failings” in the compensation process.

More than 11,500 claimants have received payments worth approximately £1.48 billion, as of February 27, through several schemes set up to compensate postmasters who were affected by previous faulty versions of the Horizon computer system.

The total costs of redress rise to around £2 billion once legal and administrative costs are taken into account, as well as for the Capture system which pre-dates the Horizon software.

The Horizon accounting system, run by Japanese firm Fujitsu, made it look like money was missing from their branch accounts.

It is at the centre of the long-running Post Office scandal, which saw around 1,000 people wrongly prosecuted and convicted throughout the UK between 1999 and 2015.

The BTC said progress had been made in delivering redress to victims, but that thousands of sub-postmasters were still waiting for compensation.

Many victims still face delays, inadequate offers, and administrative processes that “retraumatise” those who have already faced injustice, according to its report.

MP Liam Byrne, chairman of the BTC, said: “Thousands of victims are still waiting for fair redress, while the processes designed to help them are too often slow, bureaucratic and retraumatising.

“That is simply unacceptable after one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in British history.

“Worse, Fujitsu has yet to contribute a penny to the nearly £2 billion redress bill, even as it continues to benefit from public contracts.

“That cannot continue.

“It is simply wrong that taxpayers are covering the costs for Fujitsu’s sins while Fujitsu is still profiting from taxpayers-funded contracts.”

‘Moral obligation’

The BTC said that Fujitsu had acknowledged it had a “moral obligation” to contribute to the cost of redress, and stated its commitment to do so, but that it has made no interim payment nor agreed to any figure.

Fujitsu continues to supply its IT system to the Post Office and also to Government departments through a number of contracts.

A spokeswoman for Fujitsu said: “We continue to work with UK Government to ensure we adhere to the voluntary restrictions we put in place regarding bidding for new contracts while the Post Office Inquiry is ongoing, and are engaged with Government regarding Fujitsu’s contribution to compensation.”

Meanwhile, Mr Byrne said the committee was “concerned to hear new evidence that suggests unsafe convictions linked to earlier systems such as Capture may be only the tip of another iceberg”.

He said: “Parliament must act quickly to quash these convictions and ensure that every victim finally gets the justice they deserve.”

Compensation scheme

A compensation scheme for sub-postmasters who were forced to repay shortfalls from the faulty accounting system Capture was launched last year.

A spokeswoman for the Post Office said it would review the committee’s recommendation and continue to work closely with the Government.

She said: “We welcome the scrutiny of the committee and its commitment to ensuring full, fair and timely redress is paid to those harmed during the Horizon scandal.

“Progress has been made with 87% of eligible Horizon Shortfall Scheme applications having received an offer and £882 million paid through the scheme.

“We are processing applications as quickly as possible to bring resolution to those who have applied.”