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-_ - CaseSummaryandDecisionPaper ts
______For Disciplinary and CulpabilityCases
Case: Summary Termination
1. CASE DETAILS
Agent's Name: Mrs Katherine McAlerney
Office Name and Address: I)
Branch Code: 185713
Date of Suspension/Incident: I 19" January 2007
Charge / Culpability amount
Poor Accounting
Failure to make good losses
Breach in Contract Section
12, paragraph 4 & 12
Date of Interview: 5" April 2007
2. BRIEF CASE HISTORY
Insert brief description of events leading up to this stage, adequate to provide
sufficient information to any third party reading so they could understand what has
happened so far.
Leitrim Post Office is situated in a rural area and the small
office is sited within a small grocery store which is attached
to a Public Bar. Katherine McAlerney has been the Sub
Postmaster of Leitrim Post Office for nearly 7 years and was
employed previously as a Secondary School Teacher.
The Public Bar and Post Office premises are owned by
Katherine McAlerney and her husband. They are opening a
restaurant in May and also rent two properties. They have a
small mortgage on the business. Leitrim Post Office opens
9.00 hours to 17.00 hours daily except Thursday opening
time is 09.00 hours to 12.00 noon. Closure days are
Wednesday and Saturday and the office conducts between
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15 /20 transactions daily. Katherine McAlerney employs
Selina Mussan (full time) to work in the grocery store and in
the Post Office. Selina has been employed for 3 years.
The branch transacted approximately £1500 - £1700 in
transactions per week leaving a surplus cash figure of £300.
Since being appointed as Subpostmaster of Leitrim Post
Office® the BDM Colum McKingney has no performance
issues and the office files shows that there have been no
previous warnings issued and that Mrs McAlerney is of
good conduct. The branch currently operates restricted
hours and the branch remuneration currently stands at
£3899.93.
An audit was conducted at the branch on the 19" January
2007, which highlighted the following deficiencies:
£ 1375.85 (-) Identified as a difference in cash
figures
£ 252.39 (-) Identified as a difference in stock
figures
£ 868.70 (-) Identified as a difference in postage
figures
£ 2494.94 (-) Total Shortage
In addition to the above, the following amounts are noted,
effectively increasing the above figure to:
£ 8092.50 (-) Outstanding amount, previously
settled centrally, as confirmed with Product & Branch
Accounting on the day of the audit
£ 10587.44 (-) Total shortage
On completion of asset verification, which resulted in the
above-mentioned deficit, the lead auditor Tony Kenney
conveyed his findings to Mrs McAlerney. She was asked if
all cash and stock had been produced, she stated that there
might be some stamp books at the shop till. On checking,
this did indeed prove to be the case, however only a
minimal amount was located.
Due to the large volume of variances within the stock and
postage he asked Mrs McAlerney if she physically checked
her stock and postage on completion of her Branch Trading
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Statement (BTS), Mrs McAlerney replied that it depended if
she had the time or not. Mrs McAlerney also stated that she
could not confirm if she was counting her obsolete TVLSS
as part of her BTS nor could she explain the negative
entries for the POSS.
With reference to the difference in cash, Mrs McAlerney
could not provide an explanation as to the deficit.
Tony Kennedy contacted the Product and Branch
Accounting (P&BA) to ascertain if there were any
pending/outstanding transaction corrections or if there were
any amounts previously settled centrally. He was advised of
a net amount of £8092.50 short against the branch.
He explained to Mrs McAlerney that the audit result was
now £10587.44 short.
Mrs McAlerney informed Tony Kennedy that she had been
having difficulty with her processing unit and that it had
been replaced, she could not confirm when this had
occurred. However she did state that on completion of her
BTS over the past several periods she had experienced
both large surpluses and shortages. Mrs McAlerney sought
advice from the Helpline who advised her to settle any
balance discrepancies centrally so as she could complete
her BTS rollover. Mrs McAlerney stated that this is what she
duly did and was not overly concerned about the large
discrepancies as she assumed they would all be sorted out,
as there must be some sort of problem with her computer.
Mrs McAlerney confirmed that she has received request for
payment from P&BA for an amount in excess of £30K yet
she had subsequently received transaction corrections to
offset this amount. Mrs McAlerney stated that she would
expect more credit transaction corrections to be issued as
although the audit result was £10587.44 short she believes
that the errors are solely due to software problems. The
investigations managers reports confirms that the
examinations of call logs shows that the office processor
has been changed once in the last two years, which was
after the office had closed on the 25/04/07.
I was contacted by Tony Kennedy at 1030 on the morning of
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the audit and after receiving a report of his preliminary
findings I took the decision to precautionary suspend Mrs
McAlerney's contract for services. I had no alternative but to
close the branch because no interim was available.
It should also be noted that because Mrs McAlerney was in
the final weeks of pregnancy it was decided to defer the
criminal and contractual investigation until she was
medically able to attend both interviews.
Mrs McAlerney was sent a charge letter on 26" February
2007 and attended for interview at Post Office Ltd, Level 7,
Donegal Quay Belfast. The charges stated on the RTU
letter are failure to discharge the obligations placed on you
by your contract for services; Section 12 paragraphs 4 & 12
refer. A full transcription of the hand written notice is
embedded in this document.
C:\Documents and
Settings\prian a trott:
The following points were raised by Mrs McAlerney:
1. Repeated failure of branch processor, failing 4/5 times
a day. The call logs confirm that there is little evidence
of Mrs McAlerney contacting the helpline in an attempt
to resolve the problem.
On closing the interview I informed Mrs McAlerney that I
would not be rushing my decision until I had received a full
report from Suzanne Winter when she had completed her
analysis of the branch trading records.
The following was received from Suzanne Winter,
Investigation Manager on the 8" May 2007 and on the 6"
June 2007:
Brian....Tony Utting, National Investigation Manager has
advised that
there should be no further legal action taken against
Katherine Mary
McAlerney .
After discussions with Judith Trotter the investigation is to
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be closed. I do not feel there would be anything to be
gained by speaking with the assistant at this stage of the
case.
As detailed in discipline report a significant number of
failings in security and operational processes within the
office have been identified during this investigation.
-Cheques not remitted to Cash Centre within time scales
‘Disregard to Cash Centre requests for evidence of
remittances despatched
-BTS not completed on trading period dates for Group C
-Disregard to requests from Chesterfield to complete on
trading periods for Group C
In addition to Suzanne Winters investigation a further in-
depth analysis has been undertaken of the branch
accounting records by Andrew Winn, John Breeden and
myself and the following has been deducted:
- branch accounts not kept in the prescribed manner ie
trading statements not be completed when due - branch not
being rolled over at the correct time
- cash not being accurately declared (both Andrew Winn
and Suzanne Winter have made this point) - it appears this
is the critical point as it is preventing any further work being
undertaken to establish the cash position in the branch due
to the inaccuracy of the declarations and the number of
changes that have been made in declarations on the same
day eg a cash declaration made on 05/09/06 at 0845
£5,622.82 and within 10 minutes it was increased by
£9,000.00 and
a cash declaration made on 18/09/06 at 08.18 £18,026.09
and at 16.14 that evening the cash was declared as only
£1762.99 - a change of £16.5k which appears not be
explained anywhere (there is no suggestion of misuse of
funds)
- Horizon base unit changed on 11/9 but nothing to suggest
this caused any issues
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The branch records have been checked and there would
appear to have been no previous warning issued for poor
performance or breaches in contract.
3. THE INTERVIEW
Interviewer: Brian Trotter
Contract Advisor
Interviewee: Mrs Kathernine McAlerney
Accompanied by: No representation
Note Taker: Terry Smithson
Trainer, Outlet Field Support
Team
Date of Interview: 5" April 2007
Location: Post Office Ltd, Level 7,
Royal Mail House, Donegall
Quay, Belfast
4. FACTORS IN FAVOUR OF AGENT
Following the interview and investigation into the case insert positive factors in favour
of agent affecting the decision.
1. Office files show that Mc McAlerney has had no previous
warning and has a good conduct record.
5. FACTORS IN FAVOUR OF POL
Following the interview and investigation into the case insert positive factors in favour
of POL affecting the decision.
1. Mrs McAlerney has failed to put the correct controls in
place to prevent the loss of Post Office® cash.
2. Failure to complete the accounts in the form prescribed
by Post Office®.
3. Failed to follow instructions from Chesterfield with regard
to the completion of the branch trading accounts.
4. Failure to make good losses totalling £10587.44
6. I DECISION
Insert the decision made.
Summary termination Of Contract
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7. RATIONALE TO SUPPORT DECISION
Insert the rationale to support the decision
It should be noted that from day one Mrs McAlerney has
insisted that there has been no actual loss to Post Office
funds and the loss or failing is down to system failure.
However, the examination of call logs and an in-depth
analysis carried out by a number of people do not prove that
this is the case.
Clearly, Mrs McAlerney has failed in her obligations to
maintain the accounts as prescribed by Post Office Ltd and
furthermore there is evidence that operating controls for
ensuring the safe keeping of stock and cash are not as tight
as they might have been.
I would therefore recommend the summary termination of
Mrs McAlerney Contract for the aforementioned reasons.
8. LEARNING POINTS
Insert the learning points of this case
1.
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