Post Office Scandal: Government contracts awarded to Fujitsu even after Mr Bates ITV drama
Government bodies kept awarding Fujitsu with contracts to the tune of £500m even after the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office brought the Post Office Horizon scandal to national prominence.
That’s according to LBC, alongside the public sector data analytics firm Tussell, which found that 23 contracts were handed out to the firm since January 2024.
One contract was even an extension of the Horizon deal with the Post Office itself – worth £63m – for an IT contract that will only expire in March of next year.
Ministry of Defence contracts alone were worth over £7m, a deal which involved the sale of more than 50 specialist laptops.
Meanwhile, the Home Office handed out contracts worth £28m, including for “hardware provisions” for the department.
This comes amid a damning week, with revelations from the first section of the inquiry into the scandal.
Inquiry chair Sir Wyn Williams slammed the “wholly unacceptable behaviour” suffered by subpostmasters at the hands of the Post Office.
Both the Post Office and Fujitsu “maintained a fiction” that the data provided by faulty accounting software was accurate.
Fujitsu said of the contracts: “We continue to work with the 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 a government spokesperson said: “Fujitsu has committed to withdraw from bidding for contracts with new government customers until the Post Office Inquiry concludes.
“We will not hesitate to take action, where appropriate, based on the final findings of the Inquiry.”
Is the government endorsing Fujitsu?
Jo Hamilton, a former subpostmaster who has since campaigned on the issue, told LBC: “I’m not very often speechless, but honestly. It’s like the government are endorsing what they’ve done to keep using them.
“Why can’t they say ‘In order to renew your contract you’ve got to pay up’, because they should be contributing to this scandal. It really is dreadful…
“They [other campaigners] will be as angry as I am, it’s just awful”
Lord Arbuthnot, a member of the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board, said: “They [the government] should not continue to do business with this company.
“It sounds as though the government feels they are over a barrel with Fujitsu and that is not an acceptable position for the government to be in.”
He added: “The government ought to be finding a different way of working so that they don’t need to use this company which has done such damage to the sub postmasters”
Defence secretary John Healey insisted that the contracts were providing value for money for taxpayers.
He said: “The contracts that we, as Defence have, with Fujitsu are based on an assessment of what Fujitsu can provide for defence, provide for our forces – we are making sure that what they supply at taxpayers’ expense, to reinforce our forces or our defence systems, is good value for money, and where it is we’ll continue to consider using them”