Pension black gap rocks Horizon IT agency Fujitsu

Fujitsu, whose defective Horizon software program is on the centre of the Post Office scandal, was thrown deeper into disaster this weekend after it was pressured to earmark greater than £500 million to plug a black gap in its fundamental UK pension fund, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

To add to its woes, Fujitsu’s UK arm additionally plunged right into a £99 million loss final 12 months, regardless of persevering with to win taxpayer-funded contracts, together with a £36 million deal to increase Horizon’s use till spring 2025.

It comes as stress grows on the Japanese know-how large to compensate victims of what has been described as probably the most widespread miscarriage of justice in British historical past.

Accounts filed on Friday at Companies House additionally present that not like the Post Office, Fujitsu has not put aside or paid any cash to compensate victims of the Horizon fiasco as a result of no authorized motion has been taken in opposition to it to date.

The paperwork additionally revealed it has needed to pump one other £40 million into British pc agency ICL’s ‘gold-plated’ pension scheme, the place there’s a enormous shortfall which final 12 months ballooned to £339 million.

Under stress: Fujitsu designed the bug-riddled Horizon IT system which falsely confirmed that 1000’s of sub-post workplace department managers had stolen cash

Fujitsu designed the bug-riddled Horizon IT system which falsely confirmed that 1000’s of sub-post workplace department managers had stolen cash.

The Government final week mentioned it could use emergency laws to overturn convictions in opposition to greater than 900 sub-postmasters who had been wrongly accused of stealing from the Post Office.

It additionally provided to pay £75,000 compensation to those that had been pursued by the Post Office and ordered handy money again, however had been by no means convicted.

Ministers have urged Fujitsu to repay taxpayers for the ‘fortune’ the scandal has already value the general public purse.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak faces calls to bar it from securing authorities contracts.

Fujitsu purchased ICL in 1998 simply earlier than the Horizon system was rolled out into 1000’s of Post Offices up and down the nation. As a part of the deal, the Japanese tech firm took on the liabilities of the ICL pension scheme, which has 9,000 principally retired members, a lot of whom could have labored on the Horizon challenge. The scheme pays a assured retirement earnings however it’s now not open to new members.

Fujitsu has dedicated to paying out a complete £504 million within the decade to 2032 to fill the hole.

Despite the black gap rising deeper final 12 months, the ICL trustees who oversee the pension scheme anticipate the £3.3 billion plan to be again on monitor by January 2027.

This, if they’re proper, would probably unlock thousands and thousands to compensate Horizon victims. However, it’s not clear why the trustees assume the hole might be closed sooner than deliberate.

‘I imagine Fujitsu ought to urgently put aside cash to pay compensation to the Post Office scandal victims and I want that they had executed so already,’ mentioned former pensions minister Baroness Altmann.

‘It is astonishing that they appear to imagine they haven’t any legal responsibility no matter for what occurred. Even if contractually they may be receiving recommendation that they don’t seem to be liable, absolutely they need to be contemplating their accountability and ethical obligations as effectively.’

But she warned in opposition to utilizing compensation ‘as an excuse to brief change’ members of the pension scheme. MPs will quiz Paul Patterson, Fujitsu’s UK boss, in regards to the Horizon scandal on Tuesday. Patterson can also be on account of seem earlier than the statutory inquiry chaired by former High Court choose Sir Wyn Williams subsequent week.

It follows ITV’s acclaimed drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office, which charts the long-running marketing campaign for justice led by former sub-postmaster Alan Bates.

When the sub-postmasters gained their authorized motion in December 2019, High Court Judge Sir Peter Fraser voiced ‘grave issues’ about Fujitsu’s honesty.

He mentioned that, ‘within the pursuits of justice’, he would ship proof heard in court docket to the then Director of Public Prosecutions. Fujitsu didn’t apologise till September 2022 – 18 months after the convictions of 39 harmless sub-postmasters had been quashed. Since 2019, the group has picked up £4.9 billion in Government contracts.

Fujitsu declined to touch upon its plans to restore the rising pension fund hole.