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Nick Read, the outgoing chief executive of the Post Office, testified in front of an inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal this week, revealing some key revelations. Mr Read took the job in 2019 and was brought in to make changes to the organisation. While wrongful prosecutions have stopped, questions remain around how much the Post Office has really changed. Here are five things we learned from his evidence.
Firstly, it has become clear that Mr Read wasn’t made aware of the scale of the challenge he faced at the Post Office. Between 1999 and 2015, hundreds of sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted due to faulty Horizon accounting software. When Mr Read took over in 2019, the Post Office had just lost a High Court judgement to a group of wrongfully prosecuted sub-postmasters. However, there was no reference to the ongoing legal challenges in his job description. The organisation’s top lawyer even told him not to “dig into” what had happened in the past.
Secondly, Mr Read’s leadership has been amidst controversy over his own remuneration. Mr Read admitted lobbying for more money, but apologised for how this looked given so many victims are still waiting for compensation. Claims about bullying and misogyny had also been made against people who had left under a cloud, according to Mr Read.
Thirdly, new figures released this week show that £363m has already been paid out in compensation to former sub-postmasters, but many are still waiting. The Post Office boss blamed bureaucracy, not prejudice or penny pinching, for the delay. Mr Read claimed the government could be using the Post Office as a “shield” to remove itself from compensation decisions.
Fourthly, for many sub-postmasters, the continued employment of people implicated in the scandal who still work at the Post Office, is a contentious issue. Mr Read revealed three employees are still being investigated as part of Project Phoenix, meaning they have been accused of wrongdoing. He assured the inquiry that he wouldn’t ignore specific allegations and would ask people to step back from roles if it helped with sub-postmaster confidence.
Lastly, Mr Read was repeatedly questioned about where the money has gone. He put a new figure on the missing money at £36m and expressed surprise at survey results suggesting sub-postmasters are still facing issues. Inquiry lawyers pointed to new sub-postmaster contracts that still refer to the Post Office’s investigatory powers, including evidential interview processes under caution. Mr Read admitted this might be “heavy-handed”. He has several months left in the role and intends to bring about more change
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