The Post Office plans to use a combination of existing Horizon functionality, in-house software and off-the-shelf platforms for its next in-branch IT system, according to a source close to the project.
Fujitsu’s controversial Horizon system, at the centre of the Post Office scandal, is being replaced through the New Branch IT (NBIT) project, which initially planned to replace it with in-house developed software.
But problems in delivering the project, which has run £1bn over budget and been heavily delayed, means plans have changed. A source with inside knowledge of the project said it is now “nearly certain” that a fusion of Horizon, in-house NBIT and off-the-shelf software will replace the current system. This would involve the Post Office buying the Horizon system from Fujitsu rather than renting it as it does now.
This was a previous proposal that had been scrapped, according to the source. “There is nothing new about it and there were reasons why it was rejected in the first place,” the source said.
Computer Weekly revealed in May this year that a review by government project management experts at the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) rated the Horizon replacement project as “currently unachievable”, with budgets ballooning from £180m to £1.1bn and implementation being delayed by as much as five years.
There has been an ongoing debate about whether the Post Office should build a new system in-house or buy off the shelf. “The end solution will be a fusion of the Post Office buying Horizon, things that work from the in-house NBIT software project and off-the-shelf software from suppliers to fill any gaps,” the source said.
In response to Computer Weekly questions on the matter, the Post Office said: “We are still assessing options and no formal decisions on the future of the programme have been made as yet.”
Horizon was responsible for unexplained accounting shortfalls that led to hundreds of innocent subpostmasters being wrongly blamed and prosecuted.
Work to replace the 25-year-old system began in 2021, after a High Court battle proved that system errors caused unexplained shortfalls. The replacement project is of public interest now, following ITV’s dramatisation of the scandal, after which what had been inflicted on subpostmasters by the Post Office finally sunk in with the public.
In an earlier interview, pointing to a possible mix of in-house and commercial platforms, Andy Nice, chief transformation officer at the Post Office, told Computer Weekly that in-house developments that have been running as part of the NBIT project will not be wasted whichever way the organisation decides to go.
“There is [NBIT] capability delivered out of that, that is in the subpostmasters’ world ... the big central question around what’s the future for Horizon is the one we are revisiting and reviewing right now,” said Nice last month.
Another source said teams at the Post Office have a “vested interest in Horizon staying around” and that some have been vocal about it. He added that “change is a difficult thing and a lot of people object to it”.
There is also an ongoing investigation after allegations that former transformation chief Chris Brocklesby misrepresented an off-the-shelf option to replace Horizon.
Fujitsu’s contract to provide and support Horizon is scheduled to end in March 2026 and the Post Office is currently in the process of migrating all Horizon data from Fujitsu systems to its own, in preparation.
In his Transformation Plan speech last month, Post Office chairman Nigel Railton said: “We will transform our technology and data to better serve postmasters and your customers. This means a lower-risk, better-value New Branch IT for postmasters. We’re discussing what this looks like with the government, but our intent is to deliver changes gradually, rather than in a ‘big bang’ moment.”
The Post Office scandal was first exposed by Computer Weekly in 2009, revealing the stories of seven subpostmasters and the problems they suffered due to the accounting software (see timeline of Computer Weekly articles about the scandal below).