POL00138077 - Post Office; Initial Complaint Review and Mediation Scheme Programme Board Slides

Evidence on official site

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Initial Complaint Review and Mediation Scheme

Programme Board
17% January 2014

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Agenda i)

1. Programme Director's Update
2. Terms of Reference

3. High Level Success Criteria

4. Performance Dashboard
5. Key Risks and Issues

6. Financial Outlook

7. Early Settlement Criteria

Decisions for this meeting

Agree the terms of reference for the Programme Board

Agree the high level success criteria for the programme

Agree mitigating actions/resolutions for escalated risks & issues
Consider/agree the budget and the resourcing proposal

Approve the early settlement criteria

Approve the communications plan (in correspondence by 24 January)

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1. Programme Director’s Update i)

oo Terms of Success Performance \ Key Risks Financial \ Early
Update Reference Criteria Dashboard & Issues Outlook Settlement

Delivery & likelihood of success RV Trajectory

Overall the scheme is stabalising with a firmer grip on facts and data, however
there is still a lot of work to be done to mitigate the risk the Scheme poses to
Post Office’s reputation and business (through the quality of our administration,
investigations and delivery).

« Administration — a full review of the Scheme’s administration is almost complete.
This has brought to light issues with purchase orders, payments, correspondence
dispatch and logging and the approval of advisors

* Governance — first programme board meeting today, resources for programme not
yet confirmed, revised risks and issues management in place, process mapping
and documentation ongoing

* Stakeholders — relationship with JFSA and Second Sight in a challenging phase
as we seek to agree engagement terms with Second Sight

* Legal — revised support model with Bond Dickinson in place

* Risk — programme is very high risk - including a high risk of delivery failure

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2. Terms of Reference i)

rogramme
Director's

Frequency Chair & Secretariat

* Fortnightly * Chris Aujard, Chair
« Nicky Mal, Secretariat

Objectives
To provide the overall direction and management of the programme

* Agree key programme artefacts including the programme pian and
comms plan

« Ensure the appropriate coordination across the projects that
comprise the programme

« Reviewing/signing-off deliverables

+ Review civil and criminal cases

* Define acceptable risk profile and risk thresholds for the programme
& its projects

+ Resolve issues between projects, which need the input and
agreement of senior stakeholders to ensure the progress of the
programme

* Own the resolution of risks and issues that the programme faces

+ Ensure resource availability for programme activities & resolve
conflicts

+ Resolve dependencies across programmes

* Define the success criteria for the programme

« Review programme budget every month

+ Ensure the programme complies with Post Office data security
policies

« Ensure suggestions for improvement/themes arising out of the
programme are fed into the Business Improvement programme and
vice versa

Terms of Success Performance \ Key Risks
Reference Criteria Dashboard & Issues

Core Membership

Fay Healey (NED) Belinda Crowe, Angela Varn-Den-Bogerd, Charles.
Colquhoun, Andy Holt, Rodric Willams, Andy Parsons, Sophie
Bialaszewski, Jess Barker, Max Warren, Nicky Mal, David Oliver, Ben

Maddison, Caroline Culver
Inputs

Programme Board reporting pack
* Key management information from case tracker
« Escalated risks or issues for review
+ Draft deliverables for sign-off

Outputs

+ Agreed programme artefacts
* Signed-off programme deliverables

« Agreed mitigating actions for risks /resolution to issues

+ Agreed escalations to ExCo
* Success criteria for the programme
* Minutes and actions

Financial \ Early

Outlook

Settlement

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3. High Level Success Criteria

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rogramme

: : Performance
Director's

Dashboard

Success
Criteria

Terms of
Reference

Short-term Medium-term

Financial
Outlook

Key Risks
& Issues

Early
Settlement

Long-term

‘Trust in Post Office as a brand enhanced to
support expansion of products in line with
2020 strategy

Wider strategy not undermined by toss in
confidence in Post Office as a brand and

Bayes JepiM

Reputation improved among
Subpostmasters, MPs and with journalists
covering the Scheme

Reputational damage ¢
Horizon issues stopped

I

used by ongoing I

Interest among MPs in Scheme d

Post Office is seen es

fair partner which vali
ants and handies their complaints fairly and

Reputation enhanced

Strategy delivery augmented

MPs supportive of Post Office
Subpostmasters energised and engaged
Second Sight engagement satisfactorily completed

Good value for Tax payer achieved

New complaints scheme in place

New prosecution policy and intervention policy implemented
All Scheme complaints resolved

Ability to attract high quality Subpostmasters

nereased

as they feel constituents are being veated
fairly (proxy measure MPs’
correspondence & PQs)

yore ded

Subpostmasters fee! positiv
about the way the schemi
been administered and
confidence in Horizon is
increasing

Post Office engages directly with
interested MPs and is the fst point of call
for enquiries about the

SchemelHorizon/SPMR complaints

90% cases
investigated by POL
by end of July and
90% of cases
mediated by end of
September

100% ca:
within poll

settled
Second Sight

endorse the guidelines. Scheme
Scheme as fair and administration in
robust budget

remo

Feel that Post Office is
\gaging in good faith and the

or

Second Sight is focused
on providing timely,
evidence based reports
‘on applications that aliow
successful mediation or
settlement of mast cases

Second Sight

Scheme administered in an
efficient and professiona’
manner

Cases are tiaged to effectively
identity 3 that are
appropriate to settle early of
removed from the Scheme
(arget TBC)

inv
and imgartiai, Repo:
valanced and professional.

ons are thorough

Finance

Case Processing

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4. Performance Dashboard i)

ii Terms of Success Performance \ Key Risks Financial \ Early
: jl : Reference Criteria Dashboard & Issues Outlook Settlement

fie

* The Performance Dashboard has been developed

* Data cleansing/administration activities continue to improve the data quality
prior to populating the dashboard

* The first report will be available by the next Programme Board meeting

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5 : 1 Key Issu ES - extracted from programme register

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Programme
ahi s

: : Terms of Success Performance \ Key Risks Financial \ Early
ode Reference Criteria Dashboard & Issues Outlook Settlement

Second Sight (SS) lack
resources to progress the
investigation of cases

Second Sight and JFSA
consider the scope of Second
Sight’s work to extend beyond
the Scheme and in any event,
have taken a very wide view of
Second’s Sight’s investigatory
role within the Scheme

Delays in getting all the Fujitsu
data requests returned in the
timeframes expected by WG —
technically we are limited to the
number of queries we can run
(about 30 months of data per
week, e.g. 1 x 30 month
request or 30 x 1 month

—— requests).

SS have been relieved of Scheme administration activities .
Their contract is being revised and resource requirements
are being monitored through the WG. Although they have
provided a CV for an additional resource to CA, this will be
insufficient to manage the workload soon to commence;
should we be seeking alternative resourcing arrangements?

4. Continuing discussions with Second Sight about their
engagement

2. Conversations with AH about the role within the
Scheme

3. Clarification with PV and AP about scope

1. Arrange a meeting with Fujitsu to explore the possibility of
improving the number of queries which can be processed at
any one time

2. Investigations team to schedule and prioritise requests in
a weekly meeting with Fujitsu.

3. Investigations team to look at how we focus cases to
more specific data ranges rather than broad requests.
Accept and manage impacts of the schedule back to the
WG via Angela.

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CA

AH

—
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5. Key Risks ~— extracted from programme register ©

Dienors Terms of Success Performance \ Key Risks Financial \ Early
siti . Reference Criteria Dashboard & Issues Outlook Settlement

The list of POL representatives for . The Programme Board is requested to endorse the selected
mediation have not been confirmed. representatives
Potential representatives have been 2. CA to seek confirmation from relevant Director and ExCo

selected however agreement for their
release from BaU has not been sought.
This could potentially delay the
mediation timescales.

POL process for raising purchase orders 1. Administration activities including the clarification of purchase orders is BC
are cumbersome; this could potentially underway

delay the progression of cases through 2. BC and JS to meet AH to discuss the mediation purchase order process

the Scheme

There is a risk that the POL. Initial training provided at the Investigators’ workshop on 17" December. AVDB
investigators will not have the required Quality assurance of Investigators’ reports commenced. Feedback being

capability to write the reports to the provided.

standard required

Risk that a challenge emerges whether 1. Action appropriate person to develop a set of contingency plans RW
founded or unfounded in relation to the

safety of a conviction which requires

deployment of substantial resources,

with associated with PR implications

Risk that Fujitsu technical specialists are This will be managed/mitigated by scheduling requests in the weekly meeting AH
not available when required for as well as by creating a forward plan for Fujitsu to look at how they create the
questions relating to functionality/data. required capacity for the skill set needed. POL may also have to consider

prioritising between this and other project work, this requests will be escalated
by the Programme team where required.

a —

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6.1 Financial Outlook i)

ii Terms of Success Performance \ Key Risks Financial \ Early
: jl : Reference Criteria Dashboard & Issues Outlook Settlement

¢ The Scheme is currently assumed to be all exceptional next year in the
budget process

* Compensation paid to agents in relation to the Scheme could be treated as
exceptional on the basis that the total amount paid out is significant in the
context of a specific financial year (spend >c£5m) however the
compensation could not be linked to Network Transformation as it is in
relation to past events

« Review and set up of new internal processes can be treated as exceptional
as, for accounting purposes, it can be seen as part of Network
Transformation as this relates to the establishment processes required for
the future models

* However it is unlikely to be possible to treat the project costs of mediation as
exceptional because it will not be significant in amount. This element relates
to a past event (the dismissal of the subpostmaster concerned)

* Therefore we need as much of the mediation spend to be incurred this
financial year.

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2 Financial Outlook

ii Terms of Success Performance \ Key Risks Financial \ Early
A iia i Reference Criteria Dashboard & Issues Outlook Settlement

Other project costs*

Mediation costs*

Bond Dickinson
Cartwright king
independent Chair
Second Sight

Mediators (CEDR)

Fujitsu

Mediation venue costs
Subpostmaster’s advisors
Project Management

PA Consultants — to end March
Mediation case team

FSC

Other costs

Total Mediation cost

Average cost per case

Excludes compensation poyments

£k
1,080
392
40
504
466
616
412
422
167
232
610
50
9
£4,700k

£ 32k

£k
Project Management 19
Bond Dickinson 60
Brian Altman QC 169
PA consulting 26
Total Other Project costs £273k
Total Sparrow costs £4,973k

Mediation Costs
The budget line only takes account for

the budget we have on PA spend.

Is there anything further we can do
to draw spend forward to 13/14?

*Based on 147 cases (40)

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6.3 Finance — PA proposal i)

ii Terms of Success Performance \ Key Risks Financial \ Early
: jl : Reference Criteria Dashboard & Issues Outlook Settlement

« Inlate October 2013 the governance of the Programme was revised

* The Steering Group recognised that the lack of full time resource was leading to a
business risk

* PAConsulting were engaged to establish Scheme governance and programme
management

* The CFO has extended PA’s engagement to the end of March 2014

* However PA’s current proposal from now until end of September 2014, for £926k is:

« Programme Manager to the end of September 2014

* Programme Office Manager and Secretariat to the end of September 2014

* Policy Development Lead to the end of July 2014

« Scheme Process Support to the end of July 2014

« Expert advice on complaint handling and programme management (as &
when necessary)

¢ Case Management resource to the end of July 2014

* The Board is invited to consider and decide:
1. Whether there is a requirement for a case management resource
2. How we resource the programme and if that is through PA’s proposal to
mandate the Programme Director to negotiate detailed terms (with CC and
proct rement)

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7. Early Settlement Criteria i)

ii Terms of Success Performance \ Key Risks Financial \ Early
: ni ' Reference Criteria Dashboard & Issues Outlook Settlement

* Detail on the early settlement policy is set out in the paper
circulated with these slides
« In summary:
¢ Early settlement will reduce costs for the Programme
* The policy can be applied at every stage of a case as it
progresses through the Scheme
¢ Bond Dickinson will lead on identifying suitable cases
* Senior managers at POL will engage with Applicants
¢ Awide range of different cases could be settled early:
¢ Low value claims — under £15k
¢ Where POL is clearly at fault
« Where a case is too old to investigate mediation could be
unproductive
* Follows the process in settlement policy for scoping and
approving settlements so that governance controls are in
place

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1. Communications Plan

2. Next Programme Board ~ Tuesday 4" February, 11:30 — 12:30, Room 108

Agenda:

a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)

Programme Update

Mediation Scheme

Second Sight first case report

Themes arising from CQRs

Performance Dashboard

Risks & Issues

Development of future complaint resolution model

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