Post Office and Accenture set date to end 25-year Fujitsu contract

The Post Office has agreed to end its 25-year contract with Fujitsu and transition its IT operations to Accenture by next year. The exact date for the handover, which is expected to occur between June 1 and September 1, 2027, will be confirmed in March 2027. The Post Office has held the contract with Fujitsu since 1999. The Japanese tech company had a significant role in the Post Office Horizon scandal, where its flawed Horizon software led to financial shortfalls for sub-postmasters, resulting in the wrongful conviction of over 900 sub-postmasters between 1999 and 2015.

In 2024, the Post Office paid £95 million to Fujitsu to extend the contract for an additional two years, after a plan to move to Amazon was abandoned. The Post Office's current contract with Fujitsu runs until March 2027. To facilitate the transition, the Post Office has agreed to a short, time-limited contract extension with Fujitsu.

The company plans to retire the Horizon system as part of its five-year transformation strategy, aimed at upgrading software and hardware to meet modern customer needs. Neil Brocklehurst, the Post Office's chief executive, announced in May 2026 that Accenture would take over day-to-day operations of the Horizon system, which will be developed alongside the new system by tech suppliers OneView Commerce and Escher.

Brocklehurst emphasized that ending the contract with Fujitsu is a crucial step in the Post Office's transformation, and the agreement secures a safe and responsible transition to Accenture by summer 2027. Matt Prebble, head of Accenture in the UK & Ireland, stated that the firm understands the importance of maintaining smooth operations for sub-masters during the transformation and is committed to a safe and carefully managed transition.

Additionally, two barristers involved in the Horizon IT scandal were referred to The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal in June for misconduct. Jane MacLeod, the former Post Office general counsel, and Nick Gould, a partner who represented sub-postmistress Seema Misra, are accused of failing to provide adequate information about legal costs and the scope of legal work to their clients.