The Post Office is bringing in a new technology leader as it awaits additional government funding for its troubled programme to replace the controversial Horizon IT system at the heart of the scandal that saw hundreds of innocent subpostmasters prosecuted for phantom accounting losses.
The organisation’s chief transformation officer, Chris Brocklesby, is leaving on 6 September at the end of his one-year contract, and will be succeeded on an interim basis by Andy Nice, formerly transformation director at Camelot, the company that ran the National Lottery until January 2024. Nice starts on 23 August.
The Post Office’s current interim chair, Nigel Railton, was previously chief executive of Camelot.
“Chris Brocklesby joined us on a one-year contract and in that time has helped reshape our technology function, providing a strong foundation for the work to replace Horizon and setting up the wider business for long-term success. Working in collaboration with postmasters, we have recently expanded our pilots for the introduction of a new IT system to five branches and have been showcasing the system directly to postmasters in their local region,” said a Post Office spokesperson.
One of the biggest challenges for the incoming IT chief will be the programme to replace Horizon, the retail and accounting system that played a fundamental role in the Post Office scandal. Subpostmasters were accused of accounting losses that a 2018/19 High Court case proved were caused by bugs in Horizon.
Unprecedented legislation passed in May exonerated hundreds of victims of the scandal.
Computer Weekly revealed in May that the Post Office has asked HM Treasury for nearly £1bn in extra cash to fund the project to develop a replacement for Horizon. The total bill will be £1.1bn – a huge increase on the £180m that had originally been forecast when the project kicked off in 2021.
The new system was due to be completed in 2025, but will now not be fully in place until 2030. Supplier Fujitsu is likely to receive another five-year contract worth up to £180m to continue support for Horizon.
“Earlier in 2024, Post Office submitted a long-term request to the Department for Business and Trade to ensure funding is available to continue investment in replacing Horizon,” said the Post Office spokesperson.
“Post Office and the Department for Business and Trade are working on this request and as and when an agreement is reached, we will inform our postmasters. In the meantime, we are also investing to ensure the successful operation of our existing technology, including extending commercial relationships with suppliers where this is required.”
According to an email sent to employees by Post Office acting CEO Owen Woodley last week, Nice will bring “extensive experience of leading complex change and business transformation” from his time at Camelot.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Nice has a “proven track record” in “managing a diverse and challenging set of shareholders, stakeholders and suppliers throughout”.
Government auditors were brought in to assess progress on the Horizon replacement project earlier this year, and rated it as the highest “red” warning, which meant “successful delivery of the programmes to deliver the Horizon replacement to time, cost and quality appears to be unachievable”.
The review concluded: “There are major issues which, at this stage, do not appear to be manageable or resolvable entirely within POL [Post Office Limited]. The programme/project may need re-baselining and/or its overall viability reassessed.”
The Treasury does not normally approve additional funding for a business case given a red rating unless it is confident the project will improve. As a result, the Post Office has to convince the Labour government it can get the new system back on track if it is to receive the funding it requires.
The Post Office scandal was first exposed by Computer Weekly in 2009, revealing the stories of seven subpostmasters, including Alan Bates, and the problems they suffered due to accounting software. It’s one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British history (see below timeline of Computer Weekly articles about the scandal, since 2009).
• Also read: What you need to know about the Horizon scandal •
• Also watch: ITV’s documentary – Mr Bates vs The Post Office: The real story •