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The voice of the
UK's post offices
Department for Business and Trade
8 January 2024
Dear Minister Hollinrake,
am writing to you regarding the events respectfully outlined in the ITV
programme Mr Bates vs The Post Office. The drama has understandably
encouraged an outpouring of anger from members of the public, as well as past
and present Postmasters.
The NFSP writes this open letter to you as we have concerns about the overall
governance of the Post Office by successive Governments who had ultimate
responsibility over the years.
During the Inquiry, successive Government Ministers stated that they had received
assurances as to the robustness of the Horizon system, both as it was being rolled
out, and during the period covered by the Inquiry.
It is a major concern to the NFSP that successive Government Ministers were told
by MP colleagues and Postmasters themselves of potential flaws with the system,
yet these requests for action were denied. Indeed, in 2003 the then Postal Affairs
Minister responded to Betty Williams, MP for Alan Bates, stating “conflicts over
contractual matters are issues for the sub-postmaster and Post Office Ltd - with
ultimate recourse through the legal system if necessary. The Government's role in
post office matters is confined to broad issues of general policy and overall
financial control.” The Minister in a handwritten note then states “I am trying to
find out what the dispute is here.” To date no-one knows who the Minister asked
and what they found out. What we do know is that Post Office Ltd continued to
charge and prosecute those individuals, including those covered by the ITV
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programme, which resulted in convictions for many, while others were sent to
prison.
The NFSP would like to highlight that in 2018, the then Board of Post Office Ltd,
which included a Government representative, agreed a strategy to defend the
indefensible and ensure that the victims remained guilty. Despite the Post Office
losing as badly as they did, the shareholder did not hold a single member of that
Board accountable for the significant damage that strategy did to the victims, and
also to the reputation of the Post Office.
Indeed, the former CEO of Post Office, Paula Vennells, stepped down just weeks
prior to Justice Fraser's ruling with a golden goodbye, a CBE and a role within the
Cabinet Office. This is hardly the action of a shareholder who held the Board and its
CEO accountable for their actions. Indeed, the former Chair of the Board only
stepped down recently, with the Chief Financial Officer and the former Interim
Chief Executive Officer, still employees of Post Office Ltd and members of the
Board.
The NFSP has raised concerns internally with Post Office that there are still
employees of Post Office Ltd who were involved in internal discussions about bugs,
defects, or errors, where directions were given for minutes not to be taken, or were
part of the Investigation, Audit and Contracts departments, who hold roles that are
Postmaster facing. We are not confident that the correct review has or will be
taken.
It is now nearly five years since Justice Fraser's Common Issues ruling, yet the
victims are still trying to gain the compensation they deserve. Questions are rightly
being raised as to the length of time it has taken for these victims to receive the
justice they deserve and why it takes a TV programme to encourage Government
Ministers to begin to act as they should to protect individual citizens of the United
Kingdom against the might of the corporate giants?
Postmasters are justly and rightly highlighting their concerns over the robustness
of Horizon today, with the NFSP repeatedly calling for the system to be externally
audited to ensure that nearly five years after Justice Fraser's Horizon Issues ruling,
that the system is robust. Everyone, whether Postmaster, assistant, or Crown office
employee of Post Office, still use Horizon today and collectively we have to have
confidence that the system works as it should and does not have bugs, defects or
errors that secretly affect branch office accounts. Government as the sole
shareholder should be ensuring on behalf of the general public that this is the case.
The NFSP is calling for any report to be published as a matter of public document.
Given the reaction of the general public and resulting media attention, there are
calls to boycott the Post Office. Whilst Postmasters understand the feelings against
Post Office Ltd by the general public, they are raising their concerns that any
boycott will directly impact the innocent Postmaster of today, and result in further
victims of the Horizon scandal. Therefore, the NFSP is calling on Government to be
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fully committed to Postmasters by providing reassurance. It is the NFSP that has
stepped forward in the absence of the Post Office, to provide Postmasters with a
range of material that they can use to inform customers that by boycotting Post
Office Ltd, they harm the local Postmaster and their business.
It is sad to see that despite the rulings of Justice Fraser during 2019, questions
remain over the way senior executives of the Post Office continue to treat
Postmasters of today. As recently as last February, Post Office wrote to those whose
offices were classed as Hard to Place (HtP) imposing a change of contract which
results in the level of compensation they will receive being cut from 26 months to
12 months. Post Office Ltd have refused point blank any form of negotiation with
the NFSP, despite numerous requests from HtP Postmasters. Freedom of
Information requests have been sent to both Government and Post Office Ltd
asking how the £640m of funding allocated by the former Postal Affairs Minister in
2015 has been spent. All requests so far have been denied. Sadly, some of these
colleagues have passed away and others have been given the devastating news of
a terminal illness, yet Post Office continues to refuse a compromise.
This attitude of imposing contractual changes has continued with those who
operate around 1,900 Outreach services in very rural communities. Post Office
management recently wrote to these Postmasters informing them that their
services would be cut or closed, causing potential financial distress, and
community isolation. This was done without the knowledge of the NFSP, which is
a clear breach of the Postmaster contract. We must ensure that Post Office Ltd
does not place profit and executive bonuses before the needs of rural communities
and the Postmasters who so loyally serve them
Due to the issues explained above, the NFSP is calling on the governance of the
Post Office to be radically altered, and for Post Office Ltd to be placed in voluntary
receivership with the Board immediately removed, and all senior management
involved and who benefitted from the highly unethical and controversial
Transformation Incentive Scheme, to be removed so that a new governance
structure can be implemented.
The NFSP is advocating for an Oversight Committee consisting of Government, the
three recognised representative bodies of those who have a contract with Post
Office Ltd, plus consumer groups due to the Post Office’s social purpose.
We cannot ignore that these victims and many others had to repay monies to Post
Office Ltd, however the question remains, where did this money go? It is imperative
that a full investigation into debt recovery by the relevant authorities is underway
to determine if Post Office Ltd and other government agencies are themselves
guilty of false accounting.
Finally, it is welcome that the Justice Secretary is looking into the possibility for all
convictions to be quashed so that all of the victims can have their names cleared
and their reputations restored. However, the Government must go further and
consider the role of the Justice System in this scandal as the legal system cannot
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escape the reality that solicitors, barristers, the then Queen’s Council and Judges
played a significant part in innocent people being charged, prosecuted, convicted,
and often receiving a custodial sentence. The general public has to have
confidence in the legal system so that innocent people are not convicted today, or
that those who are guilty of crimes are not found innocent, denying their victim's
justice.
The implications and fallout from the whole scandal are so far-reaching, that
leaders within Government, the Civil Service, Industry and the British Justice
system are required to take collective responsibility to ensure the British people
have confidence in those who hold the relevant power and responsibility.
The NFSP urges Government to remove any delay or obstacle that could prevent
the victims of the past from having their reputations and losses restored. This must
include consequential losses. It is also our hope on behalf of serving Postmasters,
that Government changes its view towards Postmasters and is willing to discuss its
long-term vision for the Post Office network. This would help ensure that those
investing in the network can have confidence in the future.
Yours sincerely,
Calum Greenhow
NFSP, CEO
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