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Post Office Limited
Post Office Customer Support Centre
Finsbury Dials
20 Finsbury Street
LONDON
EC2Y 9AQ
Paul Scully MP
Minister for Small Business, Consumers &
Labour Markets and Minister for London
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
1 Victoria Street
London
SW1H OET
5 March 2021
Dear Paul,
Compensation for Postmasters with quashed convictions and Post Office
vision for 2025
As I look ahead to the Court of Appeal’s deliberations commencing Monday 22
March, and the convictions already quashed at Southwark Crown Court, I would
like to share my thinking about how best to meet the needs of those rightly
pursuing further justice, and those of current and future Postmasters and their
customers.
Since taking up my post in September 2019, I have spent a significant proportion
of my time instituting wide-ranging reforms designed to prevent any possibility of
recurrence of the issues that affected too many Postmasters. This is clearly the
right thing to do.
At every stage, I have worked closely with your officials, in both UKGI and BEIS,
to navigate the volume and complexity of the requirements for us as a business as
we seek to put matters right. While I understand completely the need for
appropriate controls in the management and spending of shareholder money, in
the context of the criminal cases I believe that there is a more efficient alternative
to a model in which Post Office devises and administers a scheme for redress but
which the shareholder funds.
A scheme similar to Historical Shortfalls Scheme (HSS) for those successful in their
appeals of criminal convictions is unlikely to work, not least because the lawyers
representing a significant number of the appellants have already indicated that
they will not participate in such a scheme. The merits of each claim will be also be
harder to assess than those in the HSS.
Given that the funding of the compensation will inevitably have to be met by the
shareholder and that, quite rightly, the shareholder accordingly expects to
exercise a tight control of that expenditure, I consider it to be more appropriate
for the shareholder to administer the process of settlements directly.
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This will, in my view, make the process more efficient for those seeking
compensation and would allow Post Office to place more of its focus on enabling
current Postmasters to thrive and serve their customers well in a retail
environment that is changing dramatically in response to the pandemic.
Having considered the matter carefully, I am of the view that it is only by acting
decisively to resolve these legal and compensation issues that we will be able to
break from the past and start realising a positive future for the Post Office.
On that subject, as the new financial year approaches, I will shortly set out [to
Postmasters and colleagues] a vision for the Post Office in 2025. This vision will
focus on the traits of a successful franchise which operates for the mutual benefit
of Post Office Limited as franchisor and Postmasters as franchisees. Most
importantly, the vision will emphasise how local Post Offices can be the retail
anchor on high streets and help sustain communities through the essential
services they provide. I hope that this is a vision you will support in Parliament,
providing the appropriate counterweight to the scrutiny entailed in achieving
justice for Postmasters affected where things went wrong in the past.
Our next meeting is scheduled for Monday 15 March, with an agenda already
focused on the closure of Directly Managed Branches and the future size and
shape of the Network. I would be pleased to speak to you sooner to discuss
compensation for appellants with quashed convictions and the vision for the Post
Office to 2025.
Yours sincerely,
Nick Read
Group Chief Executive Officer
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