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The voice of the
UK's post offices
Minister Thomas
Department for Business and Trade
18 November 2024
Dear Minister Thomas,
You will be aware that the NFSP wrote to Secretary of State, Jonathan Reynolds, on
the 22nd of October, 2024 outlining the following concerns that both past and
present Postmasters have brought to the NFSP. These are:
1 A commitment to an early and thorough review of the implementation,
conduct and consequences of the Network Transformation Scheme.
2. A review of the abatement scheme that operated from 1989 - 2001, under
which 25% of a Postmaster’s first year's remuneration was unfairly
retained by Post Office, and reimbursement of that remuneration.
3. A review of the Post Office ECCO+ system, consistent with the recent
Department of Business review of the Capture system.
After meeting with officials of both the DBT and UKGI, the request was that I write
to you requesting an urgent meeting and highlighting the below.
A number of recent material revelations have come to light that necessitate an
urgent meeting between yourself, the NFSP and our legal representatives Howe &
Co to set out the terms of reference to these reviews.
The first is that Sir Alex Chisholm in his oral evidence to the Post Office Horizon IT
Inquiry on the 7th of November, stated that Post Office Ltd had misused £2.3m of
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funding provided for Network Transformation to fund its legal defence in the Bates
& Ors V Post Office Ltd (GLO) litigation (Inquiry oral witness statement, pdf P30
internal pages 117-119). This misuse of transformation funding occurred in 2018 and
was not rectified until 2019.
Earlier this year, via Anderson Strathern, the NFSP requested via a Freedom of
Information, details on how £640m of Government funding provided to Post Office
Ltd between April 2014 and March 2018 was used in respect of Network
Transformation. This request was rejected on cost grounds. The information from
Sir Alex shows that Post Office Ltd did misuse Network Transformation funding.
The second reason that the need for a meeting with you is urgent arises from the
announcement made by Post Office on Wednesday this week. As Mr Railton
{interim Chair of POL) presented the highline information into his plan, he made
mention that half of the present network is unprofitable and unviable.
It is therefore imperative that the review of the cause, namely Network
Transformation, is undertaken urgently and without delay.
Whilst the Post Office Horizon Inquiry hearings have now completed oral evidence,
Sir Wyn has indicated that he may be seeking further evidence and submissions
that sits within the Inquiry's Terms of Reference. In our view the review of Network
Transformation, the Appointment Abatement Scheme and Post Office's Ecco+
computer system rest firmly within the scope of the Inquiry's Terms of Reference,
which direct the Inquiry to:
E: Assess whether the processes and information provided by Post Office Ltd to
postmasters are sufficient:
i. to enable both parties to meet their contractual obligations
ii. to enable postmasters to run their businesses. In addition, determine
whether the quality of the service offer for postmasters and their
relationship with Post Office Ltd has materially improved since the
conclusions reached by Mr Justice Fraser.
F: Examine the historic and current governance and whistleblowing controls in
place at Post Office Ltd, identify any relevant failings, and establish whether
current controls are now sufficient to ensure that failing leading to the issues
covered by this Inquiry do not happen again.
Whilst both the NFSP and Howe & Co have much to cover in relation to the Inquiry
hearings on the 16th & 17th of December, we will make ourselves available to meet
with the you to address these matters which are of the highest importance
Postmasters, past and present, to the future of the Post Office network, and to
demonstrate your Government's commitment to “reset” the relationship with
postmasters.
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Yours sincerely,
Calum Greenhow
NFSP, CEO
P.S. For openness, the NFSP have forwarded our letter of the 22nd to the Chair of
the Business and Trade Select Committee
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