POL00028463
POL00028463
) 13 SEP t999~ 139
Electronic memo
& To Stuart Sweetman;
Miller
“lKeith K
4» Sue
i, Raymond
cc
Hard Copy To
POL00028463
POL00028463
a
Hard Copy cc -
From Keith Hardie
Date 10/09/99 17:05
Subject HORIZON ACCEPTANCE UPDATE
As you know, we have been going through the acceptance process for Horizon, while ICL work
on some technical issues that emerged during the trial. I am pleased to say progress has been
made on these issues and as a result we have now been able to agree to installing the
equipment in a further 336 offices from 20th September, on top of the 150 offices we had
already agreed to. This will bring the total number of offices in the trial to some 810, and I will
update you on further news as it is available. Please feel free to communicate this information
to your teams if they want an update on the latest position.
1 also wanted you to be aware of an issue that may be raised in relation to our commercial
negotiations with the Benefits Agency.
We have yet not reached a commercial agreement with the Benefits Agency and there are
related issues around the nature of the service we will offer them. As a result, we decided to
ask additional offices into which the Horizon equipment was installed not to operate the OBCS
service for the time being. Staff and agents in the offices are being asked to scan in the books
on receipt at the office (i.e. before they are given to the customer) to prevent the need for this
to happen later on, but not when customers present the books for payment. The Benefit
Agency recognise this position.
If asked for a public line about the reasons for this, the following ‘corridor briefing’ is designed
to help you answer questions about the issue:
. We have a issues to resolve around the OBCS service
. After discussions with the Benefits Agency we decided not to offer this service in the
150 offices we have been installing the Horizon equipment into during September, or the
additional offices we are installing the equipment into from the 20th September
. We hope these issues will be resolved quickly.and we will then be able to resume
offering the full OBCS service in all Horizon offices.
. In the meantime customers will not suffer any disruption to the payment of benefit, Post
Office Counters will continue to be paid for cashing order books, and subpostmasters will
continue to be paid for each transaction they carry out.
. IF ASKED ABOUT WHAT THE ISSUES ARE: We are going through a difficult phase in
the Horizon discussions . As a result it wouldn't be appropriate for us to discuss the details of
the issues publicly, but we are hoping they will be resolved quickly and we will then be able to
resume offering the service in all Horizon offices.
For obvious reasons we are not proactively communicating this information more widely at this
stage, and the above corridor briefing should be used reactively only at this stage. Regional ®
General Managers will note that I have included Heads of Retail Network for the additional
offices coming into the trial in this e-mail, and clearly RNMs for these offices should also be
made aware of our line in relation to the OBCS issue.
As the position on rolling out to further offices becomes clearer, we will be reviewing our
approach to communication on this issue, but I would be grateful for any feedback you can
provide on your thoughts on this, and on whether this issue is being raised within the network
and in what context.
Keith Hardie
POL00028463
POL00028463
Head of Public Relations & External Communications
National Communications
Head Office
Post Office Counters Ltd, Gavrelle House, 2-14 Bunhill Row, LONDON. EC1Y 8HQ.
Post Lined.