Subpostmasters shoulder prices of Fujitsu’s Submit Workplace IT outage
Subpostmasters misplaced lots of of hundreds of kilos in enterprise via misplaced gross sales and prices when Fujitsu’s datacentre outage minimize them off from the software program that runs their companies.
The collapse of the Horizon system on July 17 may also trigger an inevitable improve in misplaced transactions and create accounting shortfalls – one thing subpostmasters needed to cowl, or face potential prosecution, over up to now.
Whereas Submit Workplace branches are small companies, collectively they’re an enormous organisation counting on the identical IT system known as Horizon, which is on the centre of the Submit Workplace scandal.
As Laptop Weekly revealed final week, the Fujitsu outage meant Horizon was not out there for hours, which means your entire community of round 11,500 Submit Workplace branches had been unable to run their companies.
Through the downtime, prospects walked out with out making or finishing purchases, probably going elsewhere, whereas associate corporations comparable to Amazon, DPD and Evri could have checked out different choices to go away deliveries. Subpostmasters additionally needed to pay workers who had been unable to work.
If, for instance, through the two-hour outage each department misplaced £200 in prices and misplaced enterprise, that’s £2.3m in complete. The sizes of branches differ tremendously via the community and a few bigger, busier branches would have misplaced extra important sums. Subpostmasters are calling for compensation and solutions from the Submit Workplace.
Subpostmasters have additionally raised issues of additional potential issues, claiming that Fujitsu – which is on its approach out of the Submit Workplace contract after 1 / 4 of a century – won’t be totally dedicated.
Who covers losses?
Richard Trinder, subpostmaster of three branches in Yorkshire and Derbyshire, and member of the Voice of the Subpostmasters marketing campaign group, stated that he misplaced lots of of kilos in wages through the downtime. He requested: “Will the Submit Workplace and Fujitsu compensate us for this?”
He additionally stated enterprise is misplaced when companions and prospects go elsewhere. “For instance, in case you are providing Amazon supply assortment and you might be down, they may go elsewhere and would possibly by no means come again.”
Mark Baker, former subpostmaster and a present CWU postmaster consultant, added: “Will prospects who’re minimize off when within the Submit Workplace ever come again? They may most likely use a unique department, which implies the person subpostmaster has misplaced enterprise.”
Relating to prospects leaving a department when an outage hits, Calum Greenhow, CEO on the Nationwide Federation of Subpostmasters (NFSP), stated: “The Submit Workplace at all times says, ‘These prospects will come again’, however this isn’t the case as a result of we now not have a monopoly on lots of the merchandise.
“We all know there’s a service-level settlement the place the Submit Workplace pays Fujitsu for further work when required, however we wish to know if there’s one the place Fujitsu has to pay for Horizon outages,” he added.
Greenhow stated the NFSP has requested the Submit Workplace whether or not compensation will probably be given to subpostmasters for lack of earnings and was advised the Submit Workplace would examine it.
There isn’t a service-level settlement between the Submit Workplace and subpostmasters in relation to Horizon availability.
Misplaced in transaction
Baker on the CWU raised fears over an anticipated improve in misplaced transactions and unexplained losses brought on through the outage: “The massive downside is that if the system is minimize off whereas a transaction is in transit, or within the subpostmasters stack, it won’t be recovered.”
He added {that a} transaction may be misplaced as a result of it’s in a queue on the datacentre.
The Submit Workplace scandal, extensively recognised as one of many largest miscarriages of justice in UK historical past, was triggered by subpostmasters being blamed for unexplained accounting shortfalls.
“We’re going via a really harmful interval till a brand new system and help is introduced in,” warned Baker.
He added that the Submit Workplace wants to take a look at your entire structure when changing Horizon. “It wants to take a look at the entrance finish, again finish and all of the bits in between. In addition they want to take a look at the robustness of the help mechanisms when there’s an outage.”
Laptop Weekly requested the Submit Workplace whether or not it will compensate subpostmasters for losses incurred through the newest outage however had not obtained a response however the time this text was printed.
Laptop Weekly additionally requested whether or not the Submit Workplace would take any further measures through the subsequent accounting interval to make sure that unexplained losses attributable to transaction failures through the outage are recognized. It had not responded.
The Submit Workplace didn’t affirm whether or not Fujitsu will face any monetary penalties due to the outage and Fujitsu has not confirmed whether or not it has recognized the reason for the outage.
Specialist investigation agency Kroll is presently reviewing the integrity of present Horizon system information and the processes used to determine discrepancies. The investigation adopted a report by the Submit Workplace scandal public inquiry, printed in September 2024, which raised issues concerning the present model of the controversial system.
Laptop Weekly requested the Submit Workplace whether or not Kroll will embrace the most recent incident as a part of its evaluation of the Horizon system, but it surely didn’t reply.
The Submit Workplace scandal was first uncovered by Laptop Weekly in 2009, revealing the tales of seven subpostmasters and the issues they suffered as a consequence of Horizon accounting software program, which led to probably the most widespread miscarriage of justice in British historical past (see beneath timeline of Laptop Weekly articles concerning the scandal since 2009).
