From: John Doef
Sent: Tue 27/06/2023 9:30:53 PM (UTC)
To: henry.staunton : : “GRO
Subject: Whistleblowing
Henry
I'm writing to you directly because I don't trust the post office whistleblowing process
and escalations into Nick Read have not been dealt with. This email will also be sent to
Sir Wyn Williams and Darren Jones.
The disaster of NBIT is well known across different levels within the business. Recently
a number of people have raised concerns to Nick Read that have been ignored. More
than one individual is aware and has told Nick the Board have been told untruths by the
NBIT team and CIO about the extent of defects and timescales for R2 roll out that now
won't be delivered until August, if then. The defects are not under control and it's
common knowledge that there wasn't the capability in the project to deliver the build to
the right standard that means what has been built so far is sub par and has caused the
issues that they don't know how to fix. A lot of people are saying we are repeating the
mistakes of the past and I'm not the only one who feels the need to take an ethical
stance to call this out in the public interest. The CIO has only just started to understand
what is really happening in the detail and started to question why there is so much
waste in the programme and why it's set up the way it is but surely should have been
fully aware throughout.
There has been no governance in place for NBIT for a long time and what has been in
place hasn't done what it is supposed to. Even the new steering group operates on mis-
information because no one really has a clue what's going on, how long it will take to fix
it and can't be open about how broken the programme is because it's already gone too
far. External assurance has been recommended to Nick repeatedly and has still not
been arranged even though he knows that NBIT is out of control and his ClO himself
has called NBIT a mess in front of lots of witnesses. The governance failings that led to
the bonus problems are the tip of the iceberg in comparison to NBIT.
The NBIT project team and RTP teams work in silo. NBIT are secretive and told not to
share updates or information with anyone from the wider business. The RTP team are
being stood up to understand gaps in the NBIT plan that should have been managed
under the CIO and NBIT Director but hasn't and the costs are astronomical because
such a poor job was done initially and now a more realistic plan has been proposed by
RTP and KPMG with a better understanding of retail requirements and current state, it is
unaffordable. Had it been properly planned and assessed upfront the internal build
would never have been a real option. How the ClO and NBIT programme director still
have jobs is beyond me. The NBIT Programme Director refused to share an offsite
office with RTP and Horizon colleagues and called members of the team thieves and
said a lock needed putting on the door to keep anyone from outside the NBIT team out.
POL00448689
POL-BSFF-WITN-006-0017709
POL00448689
Anyone who questions the CIO or programme director are badged as difficult and
trouble makers when in reality its a case of having the experience to see the mistakes
being made and wanting to do the right thing. These people are bullied either into
staying quiet or there are campaigns to undermine them. This is exactly what happened
in the past with people too scared to speak up and say what is really going on because
of the repercussions even from Nick.
Setting up two separate projects under different leaders has been a colossal mistake
from Nick which he did despite being warned against it by the CFO and others. It has
led to in fighting and openly combative and negative behaviours from some of his GE
and other senior leaders that he hasn't sorted out. No clear guidance from Nick and his
unwillingness to deal with any sort of conflict or make a difficult decision has meant
critical questions about ownership of activity hasn't been answered and again led to
duplication and unnecessary delays and cost like in management of back office, training
and postmaster engagement. Back office requirements still aren't properly understood
by the programme and so there is very little chance that the recent budget request is
accurate or sufficient if NBIT continues. The treatment of some of the people that have
tried to step up to resolve the situation is also nothing short of disgraceful, most of
whom are looking to leave because they don't want to be part of history repeating itself
and Nick is doing nothing to stop it.
There is inefficiency across the business but especially in the Transformation, Retail,
CIO and NBIT teams. There has been no sufficient financial control over NBIT because
there is no real plan to approve anything against. Roles are duplicated and money is
wasted on contractors some of them have no interest in anything other than keeping a
day rate coming in and others that don't perform just left unmanaged. The technology
functions operate in isolation of each other causing duplication and inefficiency and the
behaviour and comments of the ClO are ill considered and damaging, even in public
forums with the whole IT function present.
The CIO is the worst leader I have experienced in a long and successful career. He is
open about misleading the Board with inaccurate dates and costs for NBIT and is
incapable of making a decision or having a difficult conversation. He has no previous
delivery experience and has openly said to members of his team that he is doing this job
to get the experience because he's never done any delivery before. How is this
acceptable for someone managing such a critical business transformation programme?
He manages his team in silo's leading to regular disagreements and mistrust and has no
clear plan either for the ClO or NBIT programme which is why dates move right every
week and costs are out of control. He is openly disparaging about other senior leaders
in front of junior members of the team and then denies ever saying anything despite
reports from people into other managers. He operates his function like the wild west not
following processes and trying to create support functions within his own team by stealth
with no regard for the waste of public funds, how it undermines the roles of other
colleagues across the broader function and business and the lack of real experience or
capability to do some of the tasks being asked of people.
POL-BSFF-WITN-006-0017709
POL00448689
Retail path clearing is an expensive and time consuming activity that needs to be
delivered before a new system can roll out but this is the day job of the retail team and
nobody with the ability to fix it seems to be questioning why they've not been doing what
they should be or why the retail director isn't owning fixing it now.
Nick Read has openly acknowledged and accepted the failings of some of his GE team
to more than one employee that's been to him to express concerns, but has taken no
action to deal with it. He is also aware of toxic behaviour from senior leaders and again
does nothing to address it even when he's witnessed it directly. He refuses to make the
difficult decisions and nods along when people raise concerns, saying everything they
want to hear, but then does nothing to resolve it. He is aware he has senior people in
role not doing what they should like Jeff Smith and again does nothing to manage or
deal with it even though its a waste of public money.
The culture in the business is disgusting and this starts at the top with Nick and the GE.
More than one person has heard comments from Nick Read about public school
education and there is a class, race and gender divide at the top. We have another CPO
suddenly disappeared from the business who happened to be the only female on his
team. This is the third in three years and raises serious questions about how Nick
manages his team and why senior people leaders and female leaders don't seem to
last. The way some senior leaders talk to female and more junior employees is not at all
in line with the post office ways of working and there are still concerns about racism and
people being too scared to report. The CFO and Transformation Director are both
examples of inappropriate behaviour that is then replicated across there teams and not
dealt with. There is a joke in the Retail team about what the Retail Director will be
sacked for because of how he behaves with female employees and external partner
female employees and more than one female supplier representatives have made
comments generally about the sexism rife within senior levels of post office during
forums they've attended.
Nick made comments last week to the senior team about the horrific behaviours of the
people who were part of the Horizon debacle especially if they are still in the business.
He doesn't seem to see how much of this is still going on and it feels like he's doing
exactly what those people did before saying if you were here in the past you need to go
regardless of the situation. A lot of people are also saying this is hypocritical when he
doesn't manage his own team or there behaviour. He has lost the respect and support
of a lot of the senior leaders in the business by failing to address known issues, allowing
unacceptable behaviours and backing poor performing and inappropriate members of
his own team. There is a common perception that his priority is clinging onto his job by
his fingertips rather than actually leading the business in any way, facing into and fixing
the problems and putting the interests of the business and the public purse first.
Hopefully me and others raising this to you will finally lead to a closer look at what is
happening at post office because right now we're on course for public inquiry 2.0.
Warmest Regards
Anonymous
POL-BSFF-WITN-006-0017709