Put up Workplace will get additional £136m in the direction of tech transformation as clock ticks on Horizon

The federal government has handed the Put up Workplace £136m extra in taxpayer’s cash in the direction of its core know-how transformation challenge. That is a part of a complete of £277m in “additional” funding which the federal government mentioned can even go in the direction of making certain the Put up Workplace has the assets wanted to manage monetary redress funds to subpostmasters affected by Horizon scandal.

The extra tech funding comes as simply 11 months stays on its contract with Fujitsu, which provides its controversial core department accounting system.

Horizon, because the system is thought, is on the coronary heart of a nationwide scandal however seems set to remain for years to come back whereas the Put up Workplace makes modifications to its IT progressively, quite than in a “huge bang”.

The federal government mentioned the funding for the Put up Workplace will assist to help the breadth of the community. “It will allow Put up Workplace to ship know-how transformation and provides them the assets to proceed administering redress funds to postmasters,” mentioned a press release from Put up Workplace proprietor, the Division of Enterprise and Commerce.

Put up Workplace minister Gareth Thomas introduced the funding as he outlined a brand new appeals course of for scandal victims sad that monetary redress settlements didn’t mirror their losses and struggling.

The Put up Workplace has stalled in its makes an attempt to exchange Horizon, which grew to become crucial following the 2018 group litigation order, when 555 subpostmasters led by Sir Alan Bates proved that the Put up Workplaces Horizon system brought about errors they have been blamed and punished for. The Put up Workplace later launched into its New Department IT (NBIT) challenge. It promised in-house developed software program to exchange Horizon.

However the programme bumped into severe issues. Laptop Weekly revealed in Could final 12 months {that a} evaluate by authorities challenge administration consultants on the Infrastructure and Initiatives Authority (IPA) rated the challenge as “presently unachievable”, with budgets ballooning from £180m to £1.1bn and implementation being delayed by as a lot as 5 years.

In October, Laptop Weekly revealed that the NBIT system was set to be dumped in favour of an off-the-shelf digital level of sale (EPOS) different.

The Put up Workplace scrapped its NBIT challenge and has now changed it with Future Expertise Portfolio (FTP). The Put up Workplace mentioned FTP “is a five-year plan to rework know-how and knowledge throughout Put up Workplace. It’s our intention that FTP will deal with know-how wants strategically and holistically throughout the enterprise, so it goes past simply changing Horizon.”

A Put up Workplace spokesperson mentioned: “We welcome the federal government’s announcement at the moment on funding, which incorporates as much as £136m for our Future Expertise Portfolio in 2025/26. We’re Put up Workplace’s know-how and knowledge strategically to make sure that we scale back central prices and supply postmasters with the instruments they should serve their clients and run worthwhile companies into the longer term.”

In December, Laptop Weekly revealed Put up Workplace plans to make use of a mixture of current Horizon performance, in-house software program and off-the-shelf platforms as a part of a tech fusion. This is able to see Horizon retained below the management of the Put up Workplace, with software program developed in-house, a few of which was executed below NBIT, and off-the-shelf software program from suppliers used. 

Put up Workplace mentioned it’s shifting to new know-how service companions as a part of the FTP and is utilizing software program developed within the NBIT challenge. It has additionally confirmed it’s working with the Horizon system. Sources instructed Laptop Weekly the Put up Workplace is presently putting in new {hardware} in branches which can be used with Horizon.

“This can be a five-year plan, and postmasters who’re presently utilizing Horizon want a system that’s steady and dependable,” mentioned the Put up Workplace. “So, within the quick time period, we’re investing in software program and {hardware} to ensure [Horizon] is match for objective and we’ll proceed to refresh and improve the know-how that’s out there for postmasters and their clients.”

The Horizon contract with Fujitsu has been renewed a number of occasions over the previous couple of years, however the Put up Workplace must take it in-house if it stays after March 2026, when its contract with the Japanese provider lastly ends

The Put up Workplace scandal was first uncovered by Laptop Weekly in 2009, revealing the tales of seven subpostmasters and the issues they suffered as a result of accounting software program (see timeline of Laptop Weekly articles in regards to the scandal beneath).