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Panorama
« The Panorama programme, entitled ‘Trouble at the Post Office’, was broadcast on Monday
17 August 2015. Despite significant dialogue with the BBC, the programme failed to fully
reflect our position and included a series of inaccurate statements and comments, repeating
the same unsubstantiated allegations we have previously addressed over the course of the
last 3 years.
¢ The week before the broadcast, we offered - under certain necessary conditions - to show
the editorial team documents which would disprove the claims being made and that
featured on the programme. This was refused.
The Post Office is considering next steps in relation to the Panorama programme. In doing so
we will meet with the Panorama Editor and the Director of News and Current Affairs to set
out in detail the inaccuracies within the programme and our other observations.
Current Position
* 26 cases have been resolved, through mediation or otherwise and the 59 are with the Centre
for Effective Dispute Resolution CEDR (CEDR) awaiting mediation to be scheduled or take
place. The remaining 65 were either; ineligible for the Scheme (4); not suitable for mediation
(48) owing to a prior court ruling or Working Group decision; or not resolved despite being
mediated (13).
¢ The obstacle to mediations actually taking place remains the readiness of applicants and
their professional advisers to commit to dates. This is reflected in that, of the 59 applicants
with cases residing with CEDR, 36 have written to us indicating that they wish to withdraw
from, or postpone, their progression until such time as the matter is ‘reviewed by
Parliament’.
e Post Office has asked all applicants to get in touch with CEDR to agree a date for mediation
by 4 September. The initial letter informing applicants of this deadline was followed up with
a ‘chaser’ letter on August 12. Mediations can take place before or after that date. The key
thing is to secure an opportunity to resolve each and every complaint raised by applicants to
the Scheme if at all possible.
* Since we have written to applicants asking them to specify a date within this timeframe, 13
have done so. A further 4 have provided dates in 2016 and we have asked CEDR to work with
the applicants in question to bring these dates forward. There are therefore 42 applicants
who have not yet engaged with CEDR to set a date for mediation.
¢ We have also written to each Member of Parliament with a constituent still in the Scheme to
encourage them to ensure that their constituent benefits from a mediation if they would like
to.
e Inthe event that the majority of applicants refuse to agree a mediation date by 4
September, we are considering whether we could specify a number of dates and locations
across the country where mediations can take place. However, as entering mediation
requires significant preparation, applicants would need to commit to attending a specific
event and notify Post Office of this intention beforehand.
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e Last week Shex made an explicit request for some lines in respect of the 4 September
deadline. BNR should therefore be aware of its significance.