In a week when the UK government responds to the Horizon inquiry report recommendations, it is important to take stock of where we are. The Post Office Horizon scandal destroyed lives. Over 1,000 sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted, and thousands more had their reputations shattered and livelihoods torn away. Families were broken, some victims died before they could clear their names, and all of this devastation stemmed from a faulty IT system built and maintained by Fujitsu.
This was not a minor failure. It was a national scandal – one of the gravest miscarriages of justice in British history. And yet, even now, Fujitsu continues to profit handsomely from government contracts. In the last year alone, it has secured 20 contracts worth nearly £800 million. This is despite Fujitsu acknowledging its wrongdoing, when its European CEO, Paul Patterson admitted to parliament in 2024 that the company has a “moral obligation to contribute”, and that it would cease bidding for new contracts.
Yet, the profits continue to accumulate for them – in April 2025 the company was awarded a £125 million contract to build Northern Ireland’s new land registry system, and they are in live re-tender negotiations with HMRC for the Trader Support Service (TSS), another lucrative £370 million contract to support post-Brexit trading arrangements between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Let us be clear: justice is not served when victims remain uncompensated by Fujitsu, whilst the company at the heart of their suffering is rewarded with lucrative new business from the public purse. Instead, to ensure that victims receive the restitution they rightfully deserve, taxpayers have shouldered the entire burden to date – paying over £1 billion to over 7,900 individuals with more claims still to come. Worse still, leaked documents revealed that whilst Fujitsu avoided paying compensation, it spent £27 million on PR firms, consultants, and lawyers under a project code-named “Holly” to protect its reputation.
This is indefensible. It is indefensible to the sub-postmasters who lost everything. It is indefensible to taxpayers who continue to foot the bill. And it is indefensible to public trust in government, which is already in fragile supply.
The question the government must answer is this: what message does it send when a company responsible for such catastrophic harm is still trusted to run our most critical systems? Rewarding failure tells the public that accountability is optional, and that consequences are negotiable. This corrodes trust not just in the procurement of public services, but in government itself.
Alongside more than 70 parliamentarians, we submitted a cross-party letter to the prime minister which makes the case plainly. Fujitsu should face an immediate review of its eligibility for public contracts. And until it makes meaningful contributions to compensation and demonstrates genuine remediation, it shouldn’t be allowed to profit further at the public’s expense.
Some will argue that Fujitsu is too entrenched to be excluded, that we are ‘over a barrel’. We reject that argument. If there are alternative providers for Grenfell-related contracts – where companies have faced exclusion under the Procurement Act – then there are alternatives here too. The government must show it has the courage to act in the public interest, not in the convenience of maintaining the status quo.
We know procurement processes are complex, and that Fujitsu’s contracts cannot be unpicked overnight. But leadership means making choices – and the choice here is simple. Do we continue rewarding a company that presided over one of the most damaging scandals in our history, or do we finally draw a line and say: not in our name, not with our money?
The victims of Horizon have waited too long for justice. They should not have to watch the company responsible continue to thrive while their suffering remains unresolved. The government must act now.
Because when it comes to justice for the sub-postmasters, for taxpayers, for public trust itself – justice delayed is justice denied.
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