The government and Fujitsu failed to mention an interim payment towards Post Office scandal costs in the latest update on the Japanese supplier’s contribution.
Days after campaigning politicians demanded Fujitsu pay at least £300m up front, more “vague words” emanating from the Department of Business and Trade press department are “disappointing”, said peer James Arbuthnot.
After a meeting with Fujitsu in Tokyo, business and trade secretary Jonathan Reynolds said there was an agreement to begin talks on compensation. To date, Fujitsu has stated it would wait until the public inquiry’s conclusion before committing to talks.
Campaigning former subpostmaster Sir Alan Bates said: “I think the latest announcement on Fujitsu’s contribution is just a bit of public relations infill, trying to push it down the road. They might be talking to them, but I can’t say any serious talking happening until after the public inquiry report comes in.”
Arbuthnot, who has campaigned for subpostmasters since 2009, welcomed the announcement that talks have begun but said he is “disappointed that there is no mention in this announcement of any interim payment. Until Fujitsu acts on its few vague words, it will continue to sully its own reputation. The long-term damage it is doing to its own future – and that of other Japanese companies – is rising. Time for action.”
According to the government, £768m in compensation has now been paid to more than 5,100 victims of the scandal, but this is just part of the cost of the scandal. Taxpayers are on the hook for at least £1.15bn to cover the costs of the scandal, which saw subpostmasters and their staff blamed and punished for unexplained losses caused by computer errors. But beyond the three financial redress schemes for affected subpostmasters, the cost of lawyers, the public inquiry and the replacement of Horizon will make this figure just an instalment.
While taxpayers’ money is used to pay for the scandal, Fujitsu has been winning hundreds of millions of pounds’ worth of government contracts, with taxpayers also footing this bill.
Government figures show that HMRC alone spent more than £240m with Fujitsu last year and this year’s spending could be double that. The figures raise accusations that the department has become Fujitsu’s UK “cash cow”.
For the wider public sector, the figure is substantially bigger. For example, in December 2024, Fujitsu won a one-year extension to its Horizon contract with the government-owned Post Office, worth £40m. According to a source, there could also be up to a dozen more potential HMRC deals in the pipeline, as well as several Home Office contracts and deals with the Ministry of Defence, to name a few.
This comes despite Fujitsu’s announcement in January last year, following public outrage at the supplier’s role in the scandal, that it would pause bidding for government contracts while the public inquiry is ongoing. This gesture was described as “hollow” by peer and long-time campaigner for subpostmasters Kevan Jones.
The figures on Fujitsu government contracts over the past year back Jones’ view, as does a revelation from April 2024 – revealed by Computer Weekly – through leaked internal communications at Fujitsu that the supplier instructed staff on how to work around the self-imposed ban.
The government and Fujitsu announcement of talks, however vacuous, could suggest the Maxwellisation process in the public inquiry may have begun, according to one source. Maxwellisation is the process by which those who face criticism in a public report are given an opportunity to respond to it prior to publication.
But Arbuthnot said he doubted this: “I think the drafting of the report is going to be a long way off but I can’t speculate as to how far. And since everyone at fault is blaming everyone else at fault, it’s hard to see how Maxwellisation can begin until everyone’s part in the story has been set out.”
