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From: Jessica Barker!”
Sent: Mon 16/03/2015 12:
To: Tom Wechsler!
:55 PM (UTC)
Crowe}
Subject: Draft note for Reps
Attachment: PO Press Statement 10 March2015.pdf
Hi all
Please see below for a draft note to send to Reps. Very happy for comments / criticisms etc.
Many thanks and best wishes
Jess
Dear all
As I’m sure you will be aware, there have been recent changes to the Mediation Scheme. Post Office has decided to
mediate all remaining cases in the Scheme, apart from those which have been the subject of previous court rulings. As
such, the Working Group (which previously ruled whether cases should be mediated or not) has been disbanded and
Second Sight’s contract has been terminated. For your information, I have attached the press release issued last week
when the announcement was made.
In terms of mediations, what this means is:
¢ Mediations we have scheduled, or are in the process of scheduling, will go ahead as planned
¢ Post Office will have more visibility of which cases are going to mediation and so it should be easier to
forward-plan
e A larger number of cases are likely to proceed to mediation at once, rather than the ‘trickle’ of cases which
have been passed to mediation so far
o Weare considering the resource implications for this and drawing up plans to manage this
On a separate but related note, we are finding that a number of cases for which mediation dates had been agreed are
being cancelled / postponed at the last minute, some overtly stating that they are waiting for Second Sight’s Part Two
document and others for a variety of stated reasons. Where this has happened, we have responded to state our
disappointment, to highlight the time, labour and monetary cost and to encourage that the Applicant / Advisor
reconsiders and proceeds with mediation on the planned date. It is incredibly frustrating for all and we would like to
thank Representatives in these cases for their patience and understanding. In practical terms, we expect that most
Applicants will want to wait for the Part Two document, which we expect to be complete in April.
I hope this email provides some clarity regarding the Mediation Scheme and recent changes. We understand that
difficulties we have been experiencing with the scheme will have impacted you all, and that you may have questions
or issues which would benefit from discussion. I will be setting up a conference call, which hopefully you will all be
able to join, so that we can further discuss the changes to the Scheme and plans for moving forwards.
Many thanks and best wishes
Jess
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