Fujitsu expects its UK sales to see a double-digit drop as some controversial public sector wins fail to plug the hole in its business.
Its deep roots in the UK public sector mean the supplier continues to retain lucrative contracts where customers are dependent on its services, but sales are falling.
Sources have revealed that Fujitsu bosses anticipate revenue to fall by 13% in the UK this year, raising questions about how the company will pay its share of Post Office Horizon scandal costs.
The UK operation will require a huge bailout from headquarters in Japan when the bill for the Post Office scandal arrives. The UK business has been relying on bailouts from Japan totalling £280bn over the past two years.
Peer James Arbuthnot said there are concerns over the supplier’s ability to pay a share of the Post Office scandal costs and blamed its approach to the scandal for the continued decline in sales.
“It’s a self-inflicted decline, because if Fujitsu paid a substantial sum – let’s say half of the money the taxpayer has already had to fund – towards the redress for the subpostmasters, then in my view, the way would be open to being considered for new bids. But in a foolish display of legal machismo, they are refusing to do that,” said Arbuthnot.
The latest contract blow for the supplier was in Northern Ireland, where the Department of Finance replaced Fujitsu as part of a new HR and Oracle services contract known as Integr8. Fujitsu previously supplied parts of the contract’s predecessor, but according to Tussell, the new contract was awarded to Version 1 Software last month.
Where public sector customers are highly dependent on Fujitsu, it continues to win huge contracts. For example, the Home Office extended Fujitsu’s Law Enforcement Community Network contract in November 2024 through a £15m deal, despite the supplier being investigated in a Post Office scandal probe.
In July 2025, HM Revenue & Customs signed off two contracts with Fujitsu worth a total of £280m as the government department makes “bridging” arrangements while it decouples from Fujitsu datacentres and self-assessment system hosting.
The Post Office Horizon scandal has cost UK taxpayers billions of pounds in legal costs and compensation payments for victims. In February, peer Kevan Jones, who has campaigned for subpostmasters seeking justice for over a decade, said Fujitsu should have paid an interim payment of £300m.
But the supplier has dragged its feet and will not commit to a payment until the Post Office scandal statutory public inquiry has been completed, with its final report expected next year.
Pressure is mounting. Earlier this month, 75 politicians, including Arbuthnot, called for an immediate review of Fujitsu’s “eligibility to bid for critical government services” in the light of its central role in the scandal.
“This is not only about money,” wrote the politicians in a letter to the prime minister. “It is about justice, accountability, and whether it is morally acceptable for Fujitsu to continue to profit from the public purse. The Post Office scandal destroyed lives. That injustice must not be compounded by the continued awarding of lucrative government contracts.”
When the second part of the public inquiry report is published next year, Fujitsu will be exposed to huge public pressure. The first part of the report, which focused on the human suffering, found that it could not be ruled out that the scandal caused 13 suicides. Part two will expose Fujitsu’s role in this.
Fujitsu had not responded to questions when this article was published.
The Post Office scandal was first exposed by Computer Weekly in 2009, revealing the stories of seven subpostmasters and the problems they suffered due to the accounting software (see timeline of Computer Weekly articles about the scandal below).
