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From: Ben Foati”
Sent: Tue 27/06/2017 9:14:34 AM (UTC)
To: Rodric William:
Subject: FW: Ops Board and Losses & Crime Group
Rod
Can you do a briefing note on this area.
We need to set out the context of these losses and the rationale / risks of not pursuing the prosecutions at this time.
The questions that need to be answered including:
1. the time limit of bring a prosecution;
2. the different reasons for not pursuing prosecutions e.g likely stay of proceedings pending outcome of GLO
etc.
3. what categories of loss could be pursued (straight forward theft —no involvement on Horizon) and what
shouldn’t be pursued
4. whether the prosecutions team help with the civil investigations that need resource (albeit not unnecessarily
under PACE standards)
etc
If you need to obtain BD / Beachcrofts support then please do but we need to turn this around asap. Given your
confirmation of being a bottleneck yesterday, I’m keen to turn this around quickly!
Kind regards
Ben
Ben Foat
Legal Director
2017 Winner of the Global Finsbury Dials,
Postal Award for Customer 20 Finsbury Street,
Experience London EC2Y 9AQ
R The Post Office Legal Team was recognised as one of the top In-House Retail Teams at the Lawyer Awards
2016 and has been shortlisted for Best Banking and Financial Services Inhouse Team in 2017
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From: Alisdair Cameron
Sent: 27 June 2017 09:24
To: Ben Foati”
Cc: Stuart Nesbit! Ruth Phillips
Subject: ps Board and Losses & Crime Group
Thanks. The guidance yesterday was that we should not attempt to prosecute any cases where the losses had arisen
from or were identified via trading and Horizon rather than a straight theft, until two things happen. Firstly we
complete the Deloitte work on systems reliance. Secondly the CCRC opine. The former is fine and I gather we are
close. The second I want us to make as a formal judgment with Paula engaged because it is a big deal, with an open
timetable and a strong sense that this is now costing us blood.
My preference would be to do the Deloitte work and then seek a prosecution relying on Horizon in a single
sympathetic case - admission, good evidence, not too sympathetic a postmaster, not part of the GLO etc. And then we
will know.
In the meantime I have a specialist team setting up prosecutions that will never happen. We can get them doing other
stuff for now but I need to lay them off if the prospects aren't there?
Ruth, can you set something up for Jane, Ben, me, Paula. Ben if you want others there just add. Thanks Al
Sent from my iPad
On 27 Jun 2017, at 07:24, Ben Foa'
Thanks Stuart - I'm working with Rod and Michelle on the process.
Kind regards
Ben
Ben Foat
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Legal Director
Post Office
From: Stuart Nesbit
Sent: Monday, June 26, 2017 10:28:16 PM
To: Jane MacLeod; Alisdair Cameron
Cc: Ben Foat
Subject: RE: Ops Board and Losses & Crime Group
Hi Jane,
This was discussed with Rodric and Michelle in my team and we are working to get to the bottom of
what information is required on both sides. It was also discussed at a meeting we had earlier today on
the debt collection process and I am confident that we will get a solution in place that we can work with.
Ben — happy to talk further once we have all the requirements established.
Thanks
Stuart
From: Jane MacLeod
Sent: 21 June 2017 15:15
To: Alisdair Cameron
Ce: Stuart Nesbit
Subject: RE: Ops Board and Losses & Crime Group
Al,
Thanks for the heads up — Ben was aware that this had been raised as an issue.
My understanding is that the legal work in relation to debt collection is outsourced to Bond Dickinson, so
we need to understand the issues in order to work with BD to get them resolved, and make sure there is
a workable process with proper accountabilities for business v legal decisions.
Stuart - please liaise with Ben on this.
Jane.
Jane MacLeod
Group Director of Legal, Risk & Governance
Ground Floor
20 Finsbury Street
LONDON
EC2Y 9AQ
Mobile numbé
From: Alisdair Cameron
Sent: 21 June 2017 08:44
To: Jane MacLeod;
POL00249526
POL00249526
Cc: Stuart Nesbit
Subject: FW: Ops Board ani
Jane, as a heads up, the FSC team is concerned about the ability of legal to respond on the debt
collection process — feel they are getting stuck. No need for you to do anything, we will supply the detail
and try and work with the team to agree SLAs but just wanted you to be aware. Thanks Al
From: Alisdair Cameron
Sent: 21 June 2017 08:40
To: Alwen Lyons; Jane MacLeod; Kevin Gilliland; Mark R Davies; Martin Edwards; Martin Kirke; Nicholas
Kennett; Paula Vennells; Rob Houghton
Cc: Amanda Radford; Angela Van-Den-Bogerd; Barbara Brannon; Mark Ellis; Russell Hancock; Stuart
Nesbit
Subject: Ops Board and Losses & Crime Group
FYI A heads up on the main things discussed at these meetings that are additional to things we have
covered in GE like ATM performance and branch losses/cash. The points below are being specifically and
separately raised with the relevant parts of the business:
(1) We have a significant emerging issue around the number of £50 notes being deposited by FRES.
These are not wanted anywhere, we don’t have a physical solution, cash in bond has gone up c.
£150m and the Bank of England doesn’t want them either... We are getting close to and in one
case breached our insurance limit in London East. This can’t continue forever and we are going
to be incurring substantially greater costs trunking the stuff around. I have asked the team to
work out both a physical solution for what we have and also raise it with FRES for the ongoing
issue.
(2) We are seeing £50m a week more cash being REM’d in from branches than we used
to/expected. We are doing root cause but one hypothesis is that this is business banking. Russell
is building a business case to take on more people in the cash centres to process it — we don’t
have enough headroom to hold it in the cash centres.
(3) A couple of products are getting more issues. NBSC calls on travel money card are up from 1,679
to 2,342 a month. Drop & GO transaction corrections are increasing every month from c. 900 to
00.
(4) finsetevanr have not paid a debt of c. £50k a month for three months in a row — we are flagging as we
“have started to provide for it.
(5) We are building a new set of measures and KPIs for HRSC, working with HR and for NBSC.
(6) We are doing work to understand better agent complaints about cash, transaction corrections
on inward REMs and balancing questions.
(7) Weare shifting the Supply Chain service focus from Quality of service to cash availability and
trading.
(8) We have seen a sharp increase in robberies and burglaries involving weapons — up from 10 to 27
in the first two months of this year vs last year. We are working on additional options on security
for high risk branches. In the open plan world, fogging seems the most effective. We may start
offering these at a cost to the agent rather than doing-and-paying.
Thanks, happy to discuss Al
Alisdair Cameron
Chief Financial & Operating Officer
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Customer Experience