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The Post Office repeatedly wrote to branches about reported problems with the Horizon system in the first five years of its rollout, while beginning to prosecute hundreds of sub-postmasters for offences linked to the faulty IT software.
The early warnings were made in internal operational manuals, seen by the Financial Times, which were sent to branches between 1999 and 2004.
The documents referred to problems with the IT system, which was delivered by Fujitsu, despite the Post Office still publicly denying years later there had been evidence of faults.
More than 900 Post Office branch managers were convicted of charges including theft, fraud and false accounting in cases involving data from the Horizon accounting software between 1999 and 2015, including 700 brought by the Post Office itself. The scandal has since been deemed the biggest miscarriage of justice in modern British history.
Former sub-postmasters have told the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry that they were told by the helpline that they were the only ones experiencing problems.
One publication mentioned that the help desk had received 17,665 calls relating to hardware problems with the Horizon system between September and November 2003.
A 2004 issue of Operational Focus, described as the operational publication for Post Office branches, said: “As a result of ongoing investigations into inaccurate transactional data received, various Horizon quantity and value limits are being amended.”
In 1999, when the IT system had begun to be rolled out, another internal publication Counter News said it was “important” that Post Offices reported “any unusual occurrences” with Horizon to the help desk.
A “workaid” booklet, described as an operational reference document for Post Office outlets, was produced in 2000 to help staff “deal effectively with problems that have been highlighted since the introduction of Horizon”.
In 2001, one edition of Counter News referenced problems frequently experienced at outlets such as involving remittances and reversals. Another noted issues reconciling dockets against reports.
A pilot scheme in south-east England enabling Horizon engineers to transfer data from branches where there were “technical communication problems” was also set up, according to a 2002 edition.
An issue of Operational Focus in 2002 mentioned calls had been made to the Network Business Support Centre, showing branches “frequently experience problems when performing reversals on Horizon”.
“Each day on average 1,500 branches fail to make correct daily cash declarations on Horizon,” noted another issue in 2004, adding that inaccurate declarations cost the Post Office an estimated £3mn each year in lost revenues.
Despite these issues being communicated, the Post Office began to prosecute people from 1999 up until 2015.
In response to Computer Weekly’s 2009 article, which broke the story about claims the Post Office had failed to recognise a potential IT problem, a Post Office spokesperson said Horizon was “an extremely robust system” and there was “no evidence that points to any fault with the technology”.
The Post Office said: “We are deeply sorry for the hurt and suffering that was caused to victims of the Horizon IT scandal and their loved ones.
“The wrongs of the past must never be repeated and, where possible, we must put them right.
“Post Office today remains focused on supporting the ongoing public inquiry to establish the truth and paying redress to those impacted as quickly as possible.”
Fujitsu declined to comment.
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