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Witness Name: Tracey Charles
Statement No.: WITN07810100
Dated 21 March 2023
POST OFFICE HORIZON IT INQUIRY
FIRST WITNESS STATEMENT OF TRACEY CHARLES
I, Tracey Charles, will say as follows...
INTRODUCTION
1. lama former employee of the Post Office Ltd and held a variety of positions
with them.
2. This witness statement is made to assist the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry
(the “Inquiry”) with the matters set out in the Rule 9 Request dated 1
February 2023 (the “Request’).
PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND
3. I started with the Post Office in 1991 as a Retail Assistant in the Post Shop
based in Halifax.
4. After about two years I became a Postal Officer and worked on the counter. I
was dealing with new recruits, and I would sit with them and show them the
processes.
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5. One of my colleagues told me about the role of HFSO and I decided to apply.
! was successful getting the role straight away and did two sets of fixed term
posts in the role. I think they were fixed term for about 6 or 12 months.
6. In between the roles, and after the roles ended, I came back to the branch as
a Postal Officer.
7. left the Post Office in May 2015.
TRAINING AND/OR INSTRUCTIONS
8. I cannot recall the training I received when I was in the first fixed-term post but
on the second I recall we were sent laptops with a mock up system.
9. It was on laptops that we practiced the processes, but the system was set up
in a way that you could only progress to the next stages/steps if you got the
answer right. If you got the answer or the process wrong, you could not go
further.
10.1 asked to go the face-to-face session as it was too hard to progress if you did
not have the correct answers. This was a one-day training session which took
place in Chesterfield where you could access the mock system.
11.This was the totality of my training. I was trained to assist the migration onto
the new system and help people in the Post Office. Some were already
working through the modules themselves before we got there so had some
idea about it. Some people found it easy to grasp and others did not. People
learn differently, some got the gist and some needed assistance.
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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF AN AVERAGE DAY
12.Mondays were our admin days where we would do all our paperwork. We
would receive a two-week rota which would detail where we were going to go
in advance, and we would make contact with that branch in advance to run
through what would be happening when we attended.
13.On migration day we would assist with the balancing and would transfer the
figures onto the Horizon system and the sub-postmasters would check these.
14.We would then spend two to three days assisting with the transactions and
answer any questions. As a follow, up a team member would visit the office
to assist with the first balance on horizon.
15.We were told not give out our telephone numbers as we would receive calls
all the time asking for help as we would be busy needed to train the other
officers. We told people to call the helpline if they had any queries.
16.Sometimes sub-postmasters would speak to other sub-postmasters who had
been trained and would get information from them.
RESOURCES AVAILABLE
17.We would have the helpline or would ask other people in our team if it was
something we had not done before ourselves. The people who manned the
helpline did not always understand what you were trying to tell them if it was
unfamiliar to them. I am only assuming that they had a set flow-chart and if
there was a query that deviated from the flow-chart, they could not answer it.
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MANAGEMENT
18.As I have already stated we had a two-week rota that assisted us plan. We
had one-to-ones with our team leaders and sometimes they could come to the
branch where we were assisting to see how we were working.
19. There was also a review sheet we asked subpostmasters to complete to
comment on how we had performed. The Branch Manager would fill in the
review sheet and this would be sent back to a mailing address. I do not recall
receiving any feedback personally on anything sent through but do remember
that the review sheets not being completed or returned often so we had to
encourage this.
SUBPOSTMASTERS TRAINING
20.1 think the sub-postmasters were adequately trained to use Horizon, but this
was dependant on the office. If there was a busy office, then you could show
a variety of transactions but if the office was quiet then you could not. It was
dependant on the customer base.
ADEQUACY OF ADVICE AND ASSISTANCE
21.1 do consider that I was able to provide adequate advice and assistance on
Horizon to sub-postmasters.
KNOWLEDGE OF BUGS, ERRORS, OR DEFECTS
22.1 was not aware of any bugs, errors, or defects within the system. But errors
would occur, and this would be based on human error by way of incorrect
input.
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FURTHER INFORMATION
23.Sometimes the migration was delayed. Everything was set to go ona
Tuesday at an office. IT would always get there first in the morning to set up
the hardware and occasionally there would be bad internet connection and
the migration could not take place, but this was very rare.
Statement of Truth
I believe the content of this statement to be true.
Signed:
Dated:
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