FUJ00235527 - Computer Weekly article re: Post Office Horizon system investigation reveals concerns. Author: Karl Flinders.

Evidence on official site

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Post Office Horizon system investigation reveals concerns

Notebook: Work
Created: 09/07/2013 09:13
URL: __htto://www.computerweeklv.com/news/2240187566/Post-Office-Horizon-system....

Post Office Horizon system investigation
reveals concerns

by Karl Flinders, camputerweekly com

The investigation into the allegedly faulty accounting system used by sub-postmasters has
revealed serious concerns about a system which many claim has led to prosecutions, fines and
even jail for some sub-postmasters.

Although Horizon itself appears to have worked properly, from the investigation so far, an
interim report has raised concerns over unreliable hardware, exceptionally complex systems
and a lack of proper training.

The Horizon system, which is used by thousands of sub-postmasters, has been blamed _by
many for sub-pastmasters being wrongly charged and even jailed for accounting shortfalls.
Others have had to make up cash discrepancies following prosecutions.

Despite years of allegations that the Horizon system — which was developed by ICL/Fujitsu
Services — is at fault for many accounting shortfalls, the Post Office has unrelentingly defended
it.

But after pressure from groups such as the Justice for Sub-pastmasters Alliance (ESA) and
MPs, the Post Office agreed to run an independent investigation. The independent investigation
funded by the Post Office is being conducted by forensic experts, Second Sight.

James Arbuthnot, the Conservative MP for North East Hampshire who chairs a group of MPs
that have campaigned for the Post Office to get to the bottom of the problem, welcomed the
interim report.

He told Computer Weekly that so far the investigation has shown that the Horizon system has
worked as it should: “It seems at the moment that Horizon itself has worked as it is meant to.”

But Arbuthnot listed areas where there are concerns.

These are: unreliable hardware; the absence of “proper” system training and support; the
complexity of linking with a large number of other systems; a business model that puts
responsibility for dealing with small system problems with sub-postmasters; and the way the
Post Office has in the past investigated concerns about transactions.

He said that “while the problems are devastating for those affected, in proportion to the
number of sub-postmasters and transactions it deals with, it is a small number.”

Arbuthnot praised the Post Office for the way it “has dealt with difficult issues".

“The Post Office has gone out of its way to fund this independent investigation and there has
been no attempt to cover up what has been going on,” he said.
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Read Computer Weekly case studies from 2009 of those that believe they have suffered as a
result of problems related to Horizon.

Original Page: http://www computerweekly com/news/2240187566/Post-Office-Horizan-

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