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STRICTLY PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL 30 May 2024
Professor Christopher Hodges
Post Office
Horizon Compensation Advisory Board 100 Wood Street
Secretariat: Department for Business and Trade London EC2V 7AN
Old Admiralty Building Classification: Strictly
Confidential
London
SW1A 2DY
Dear Professor Hodges,
Update on rebuilding trust and redress
I am writing in response to your letter dated 15 May in which you rightly raised the need to maintain
public trust and confidence in redress and appeals work in the business.
Post Office is committed to providing all postmasters affected by the Horizon IT Scandal appropriate
redress as quickly as possible. The Post Office Board understands the need to provide assurance that
there are no potential risks within the Remediation Unit arising between employees' past roles and the
activities of today's Post Office. We have conducted a full review of the roles of all current employees
in the Remediation Unit. The outcomes of this review are currently being considered. It is, however,
very much a live process, and I am offering to provide an update on progress at the upcoming Advisory
Board meeting on 17 June if that would be helpful to you.
This work is being carried out entirely separately from any cases where there have been specific
allegations of individual wrongdoing. We always take appropriate action on any information about
potential misconduct, from wherever it is received, through fair and proper procedures.
Finally, I would like to take the opportunity to underline the independence of the redress schemes and
reiterate our confidence that the schemes generate fair and reasonable outcomes for postmaster.
Safeguards exist in both the Horizon Shortfall Scheme and Overturned Convictions Scheme, including
access to funded legal advice and independent panels in both schemes.
Post Office hopes these mechanisms can give confidence to postmasters and the public in the fairness
and independence of the redress arrangements that have been established. We are grateful for these
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concerns being raised and want to personally assure the Advisory Board, and all concerned, that our
absolute priority is to ensure that every victim receives fair redress as soon as possible. We do not
envisage that any work to address the structure of the Remediation Unit will affect the speed of redress
payments.
I know you appreciate the sensitivity of this issue, and the need to maintain public confidence whilst
fulfilling our duty of care and fair process for our colleagues. We have advised the Department of
Business and Trade of the offer to provide a more comprehensive briefing on progress at the 17 June
Advisory Board meeting and I would be grateful if you could confirm whether the Advisory Board would
find this helpful.
Yours sincerely,
Simon Recaldin,
Remediation Unit Director, Post Office Limited
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