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CORE NARRATIVE
- We have taken a thorough and rigorous approach. This is right for the business given the
concerns expressed and right for the scheme applicants given the importance to them
personally: we take our responsibilities very seriously
- There is no evidence from the work undertaken over the last 2 years that Horizon does
not work as it should — but every individual case is important and is being handled
properly
- It is important to stress though that the cases represent a tiny minority of the thousands
of Post Offices and tens of thousands of Post Office colleagues who have successfully
operated Post Office systems week in week out over the last decade
Thank you for this opportunity to attend this session on the Post Office mediation scheme.
We set up the scheme in 2013 to give the small number of people with complaints about
our system a chance to make their case - and for each case to be thoroughly investigated
and independently considered.
We have now investigated all but one of the cases put to us. It has taken longer than we
would have liked but a thorough approach has been critical. Mediation activity continues
after these case by case investigations.
The investigation of cases that has been undertaken has reinforced our confidence that the
Horizon system works as it should.
We have approached the scheme with the utmost seriousness and rigour. The Post Office is
part of the fabric of the nation, with 11,500 branches, most of them small businessmen and
women, serving 17m people every week. The scheme is dealing with 136 cases from half a
million Horizon users over the last decade.
Thanks to the rigour of the work that has been done, we can continue to be confident in our
system and continue to be committed to improving in those cases where we can do better
for the people who work in our branches: all the more important as we continue to
transform our business for the better.
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