UK Post Office Horizon payment system
UK Post Office Horizon payment system
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Horizon is a controversial software accounting system developed by Fujitsu and used by the UK Post Office since 1999.ย
The use of Horizon resulted in what many people consider the UK's largest miscarriage of justice.
System ๐ค
System ๐ค
Website
Operator: Post Officeย
Developer: Fujitsu/ICL
Country: UK
Sector: Govt - retail
Purpose: Make benefits payments; Reduce fraud
Type: Accounting system
Technology:ย
Transparency and accountability ๐
Transparency and accountability ๐
The Post Office Horizon system has been criticised for its lack of transparency and accountability, including:
Audit trails. The system did not provide clear audit trails, making it difficult to track changes to financial data and identify errors or discrepancies.
Transaction data. The system did not provide sufficient access to or visibility of transaction data, making it difficult for subpostmasters to identify and investigate discrepancies.
System bugs and fixes. The Post Office did not provide clear information about system bugs and fixes, making it difficult for subpostmasters to understand the root cause of errors.
Complaints and appeals processes. There was no clear process for reporting errors or discrepancies, and subpostmasters were often discouraged from reporting issues.
Independent oversight. The system was not subject to independent oversight, and the Post Office had significant control over the system and its data.
Legal opacity. The long-running Post Office scancal involved the obfuscation, blocking and delayal of mediation and litigation procedures, amongst other legal and reputational defensive tactics.
Risks and harms ๐
Risks and harms ๐
Horizon has been criticised for being inaccurate and unreliable - leading sub-postmasters to be unfairly accused, convicted and imprisoned on charges of theft and false accounting, and resulting in loss of earnings and livelihoods, debt, bankruptcies, trauma and suicides.ย
Incidents and issues ๐ฅ
Incidents and issues ๐ฅ
September 2023. The government offered Post Office workers with wrongful convictions for theft and false accounting GBP 600,000 each in compensation, and in January 2024 it said it would introduce legislation to exonerate wrongfully convicted.ย
February 2020. The UK government announced it would hold an official independent inquiry into the scandal, upgraded in June 2021 to a public inquiry.ย
December 2019. UK High Court judge Peter Fraser ruled (pdf) Horizon was not 'remotely robust', contained 'bugs, errors and defects', and constituted a 'material risk' that shortfalls in branch accounts were caused by the system. The ruling saw the Post Office agreeing to settle with 555 claimants, having accepted that it had previously 'got things wrong in [its] dealings with a number of postmasters'. It was to pay GBP 58m in damages.
Legal, regulatory ๐ฉ๐ผโโ๏ธ
Legal, regulatory ๐ฉ๐ผโโ๏ธ
Investigations, assessments, audits ๐๏ธ
Investigations, assessments, audits ๐๏ธ
Page info
Type: System
Published: October 2022
Last updated: December 2024
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