The biggest compensation deal between the government and a computer supplier was branded a "sham", after it emerged that it would take a century for taxpayers to get their money at the current rate of repayment, writes Jean Eaglesham.

EDS last year paid only about £250,000 of £26.5m it owes HM Revenue & Customs, under a settlement worth a total of £71.2m agreed in late 2005 in relation to the IT problems that afflicted the introduction of tax credits, it is revealed in today's Computer Weekly magazine.