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DOCUMENT - 16
DRAFT — IN STRICTEST CONFIDENCE AND SUBJECT TO LEGAL PRIVILEGE
GLO COMMUNICATIONS — HORIZON ISSUES JUDGMENT
CLIENTS/ COMMERCIAL PARTNERS/ SUPPLIERS (ACCOUNT AND RELATIONSHIP
MANAGERS TO DELIVER)
CORE VERBAL BRIEF
KEY SPEAKING POINTS
The judgment in the second trial of a Group Litigation brought against Post Office by a
number of mainly former postmasters was today handed down in the High Court. This forms
part of preliminary stages in the litigation
We take this judgment and the overall litigation extremely seriously. We’ve put in place
measures at all levels in the business which address the issues and criticisms raised
We can be confident that overall Horizon is robust, comparing well with systems used by
other retail and financial services companies every day. Both independent experts for the
claimants and the Post Office, on opposite sides of the litigation confirm this.
It’s also important to underline that the products and services that Post Offices provide
every day to millions of customers are not affected by the litigation
Clearly no system can ever be said to be perfect. That’s why Horizon’s performance is
continually monitored and we are working hard to make continual improvements.
Overall, more than [100?] changes are being/ have been made this year alone ina
comprehensive programme closely involving our postmasters.
Horizon processes around 47 million transactions a week, more than £60 billion worth a
year. These are reconciled every day, every, month, every year, with the systems of major
organisations including high street banks, utility companies and Government departments,
giving confidence in the many products and services we provide.
But the judgment underlines to us very strongly the importance of the way in which we
help our postmasters operate their Post Offices to deliver those services We’re taking/
we’ve taken firm action to improve that support, alongside further investment in our
technology
Over the last 12 to 18 months, we have had a particular focus on making changes at every
level of the business to build a better partnership with our postmasters
These include improvements to recruitment, training and operational support, as well as
changes which further reduce the risk of human errors in branches.
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e We expect the Group Litigation to take some time to be resolved as there are many legal
matters still to be determined and the individual claims themselves span a very lengthy
period, with some dating back around two decades. Currently there are Court hearings
scheduled through to 2020
e We know that the Judgment’s criticisms may be unsettling for our people. We have a
comprehensive programme of communications to ensure we are speaking with everyone in
the business and providing people with every opportunity to raise questions and concerns.
BACKGROUND [insert updated GLO fact sheet]