Post Office (PO) IT chief Chris Brocklesby has quit after a year in the role. The news comes as the replacement of the Horizon IT system experiences long delays and rising costs.

The Fujitsu-supplied Horizon IT system was introduced to PO branches in 1999. It produced faulty data resulting in hundreds of subpostmasters being wrongly convicted of theft and false accounting.

A message seen by Better Retailing was sent to PO staff by acting chief executive Owen Woodley. It confirmed that PO’s chief ‘transformation officer’ Brocklesbury is set to leave on 6 September. He will be replaced by the former Camelot transformation director, Andy Nice.

A PO spokesperson said that Brocklesby had helped to transform technology in the firm, “providing a strong foundation for the work to replace Horizon and setting up the wider business for long-term success”.

Pilots

The PO spokesperson added: “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.

“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. 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.”

PO has spent more than £95m on extending the Horizon contract until April 2025.

According to the BBC, the age and complexity of the Horizon system has made the switching over too costly and technically challenging for the PO, while reports are suggesting a replacement system may not fully operational until the end of the decade.

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