Government looking into third faulty Post Office IT system
The government is “looking into” reported problems with a second Post Office IT system that was used before the controversial Horizon software, in the latest twist in the Post Office Horizon scandal.
Civil servants met with subpostmaster representatives to gather information about the system believed to have been marketed to subpostmasters in the 1990s.
As reported by Computer Weekly, last month, the National Federation of Subpostmasters (NFSP) wrote to the minister in charge of the Post Office requesting a review of problems experienced by users of Ecco+.
This week (21 November), NFSP CEO Calum Greenhow and legal representatives from Howe and Co solicitors, met with civil servants involved in the Capture investigation to discuss Ecco+.
Greenhow said the government is taking it “very seriously”. “It has approached the Post Office for information about the Ecco+ system,” he said.
Department for Business and Trade
A Department for Business and Trade spokesperson said: “The possible issues relating to Ecco+ have been brought to our attention following the independent investigation into Capture. The Department is looking into the issue.”
Ecco+ was mainly used in Crown Offices directly managed by the Post Office, and there were fewer prosecutions based on the systems reporting shortfalls, but instead, some users “were either dismissed or forced to resign, leading to severe financial consequences”.
There is also concern that Crown branches using Ecco+ were sold off to staff, with those purchasing them facing serious financial losses because of the system failings.
The NFSP has found a document in its archives, seen by Computer Weekly, that suggests Ecco+ was marketed to subpostmasters. It states that Ecco+ is designed to automate Post Office counters, with a monthly cost of £266 for a five-year contract for four counters.
Two former Post Office executives who worked closely with IT, Rupert Lloyd Thomas and Patrick Sedgwick, were instrumental in gathering information about the Capture system and helping investigators understand it. They are now turning their attentions to Ecco+.
“There was a crisis with Ecco+ in 1996 and an investigation into it was commissioned,” said Lloyd Thomas. “It was carried out by the Post Office IT department and a report was produced. The gist of that report was that the system was defective.”
Greenhow at the NFSP called on any former users of Ecco+ to come forward and report their experiences.
Subpostmasters’ struggles with the Horizon system were made public by Computer Weekly as long ago as 2009, but it was not until ITV’s dramatisation of problems experienced by subpostmasters, aired in January this year, that it reached the top of the national news agenda, where it has remained since.
Soon after the drama, Kevan Jones, then MP for North Durham and now a peer, revealed the stories of former subpostmasters who had experienced problems with the Capture system.
David Enright, partner at Howe + Co Solicitors, has represented hundreds of subpostmasters fighting for justice in the Post Office scandal. “This is the moment that the decks must be cleared,” he said. “The Post Office and the government are issuing statements of intent about the future, but all issues must be resolved first.”
Last month, Computer Weekly asked the Post Office for details on the Ecco+ systems, and it said: “We don’t have the information you’ve asked for about Ecco+ to hand, and so if you would like to pursue this, we would recommend you submit a freedom of information request given that the subject matter dates back some 30 years and that is the most appropriate route to conduct searches.”
Computer Weekly first exposed the scandal in 2009, revealing the stories of seven subpostmasters and the problems they suffered due to Horizon accounting software, which led to the most widespread miscarriage of justice in British history (see below timeline of Computer Weekly articles about the scandal since 2009).
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