Dwelling Workplace dumps Fujitsu from IT providers contract

The Dwelling Workplace is ending an IT providers contract with Fujitsu and transferring to an in-house one, with the organisations at the moment engaged on an exit plan.

The contract, generally known as ITNow Service Desk, was initially signed in 2021 and was value £21m over three years. It was due for renewal, however the Dwelling Workplace determined to maneuver the service in-house in the course of the re-tendering course of.

The present contract was on account of finish in January subsequent 12 months however will now cease in October. Pc Weekly contacted Dwelling Workplace however has not obtained a response by the point of publication.

Workers engaged on the contract at Fujitsu have been knowledgeable of their switch to the Dwelling Workplace underneath TUPE rules. One supply mentioned there are greater than 50 workers affected. The providers are delivered within the East Midlands, East of England, London, the North East and the North West.

Authorities contracts with Fujitsu are controversial given Fujitsu’s function within the Put up Workplace scandal, which destroyed the lives of 1000’s of individuals and finally price billions of kilos to UK taxpayers.

Peer James Arbuthnot, a campaigner for justice for the subpostmasters affected by the scandal, mentioned public sector organisations should start to chop ties with Fujitsu. “It’s important that the federal government ought to wean itself off Fujitsu contracts,” he advised Pc Weekly. “We should not be held over a barrel by an organization that behaved so badly to the subpostmasters. If we proceed to make use of them, we’re sending the message that dangerous behaviour doesn’t matter – nevertheless it does, it actually does.

“Thus far, the Horizon scandal has price the taxpayers over £1bn, and nonetheless Fujitsu has contributed not one penny in direction of their victims. They don’t deserve, and shouldn’t get, another bit of labor.”

Final week, the Put up Workplace Horizon scandal public inquiry printed its first report following three years of detailed examination. Half one seemed on the human impression of the scandal and the present progress of compensation for victims. Inquiry chair Wynn Williams mentioned in his report that he mentioned he couldn’t rule out the “actual chance” that 13 individuals took their very own lives on account of their remedy by the Put up Workplace after they suffered unexplained shortfalls of their branches, which was brought on by faults in Fujitsu’s software program.

In January final 12 months, Fujitsu’s head of Europe Paul Patterson promised to pause bidding for brand new authorities work till after the completion of the general public inquiry. However the provider has such a big present buyer base that pausing bids for brand new work wouldn’t finish a whole bunch of tens of millions of kilos of taxpayers’ cash being spent with the provider. Fujitsu earned £450m from UK public sector contracts in its most up-to-date monetary 12 months, with greater than £300m of this with HMRC. Within the 12 months ending March 2025, the Dwelling Workplace spent round £10m with Fujitsu.

Then, in April final 12 months, Pc Weekly revealed an inner instruction to Fujitsu workers on find out how to get round its self-imposed pause on bidding. In a circulation diagram despatched to workers, directions suggested that if a public sector physique is just not an present buyer, they might look to see if they’ve a novel promoting level quite than pull out of the bidding. Failing that, workers had been advised to establish whether or not there’s potential for a failed procurement in the event that they pull out, and in that case, they need to “escalate to Fujitsu’s head of public sector to boost with the Crown Consultant”.

Pc Weekly has additionally seen a workers discussion board reply in regards to the ban on bidding. In response to a query within the discussion board, Dave Riley, then head of public sector at Fujitsu UK, wrote: “I’ve outlined our present considering, however I do must be clear that we’ve over £650m of backlog to be delivered, so we have to preserve centered on that. Additionally, it isn’t a blanket ban on bidding, however is an additional gateway verify we have to undergo.”

He additionally opened up the opportunity of utilizing different suppliers as companions to get across the restrictions. On the time, he wrote that he engaged in these discussions and that “the present Cupboard Workplace place is: the place we bid with a accomplice, it’s as much as the accomplice to determine if they’re comfy to work with them, so not at the moment topic to the gateway checks of us bidding”.

Pc Weekly is conscious that Fujitsu is approaching different suppliers as a option to keep away from its personal restrictions and public criticism.

The Put up Workplace scandal was first uncovered by Pc Weekly in 2009, revealing the tales of seven subpostmasters and the issues they suffered on account of Horizon accounting software program, which led to probably the most widespread miscarriage of justice in British historical past (see under timeline of Pc Weekly articles in regards to the scandal since 2009).