It has taken many years, much suffering and plenty of legal bills for the Postmasters to get justice over the Horizon scandal. MPs including myself told past Ministers there was no sudden outbreak of mass criminality by Postmasters, but there was a systems and accounting problem created by new computers. This has at last been admitted by the Post Office and the government.
Yesterday in the House the Minister made a statement about how the Post Office and government intend to proceed following the Court decision to quash past convictions for fraud, false accounting and theft by some of the Postmasters. They plan an Inquiry and a compensation scheme. There was widespread anger in the House about what has happened and how long it has taken the Post Office to accept its errors. I stressed to the Minister that they should as a matter of urgency grant compensation to all those falsely accused and many falsely convicted. The compensation should cover the Horizon losses themselves, but also the extensive legal fees to right the wrongs and the lost earnings and business revenue caused by these false actions. People have lost their livelihoods and seen their reputations savaged. The least the Post Office should do is offer generous compensation along with their belated apology.
April 28, 2021
Kindly also point out to Ministers that dependence on any of their computer systems us a recipe for disaster. The fact that they refused to acknowledge the consequences of this obvious disaster for two decades is cruel beyond words. There are plenty of similar examples on a lesser scale impacting the lives of fewer people, so they never make the headlines.
Any thought of Covid controls, great reset controls or climate change controls by computer monitoring systems must be scrapped.
Hell, the cost of the failed âtest and trace systemâ should have registered somewhere you would have thought, but the âpost-office-attitudeâ of big brother is rampant in the clunking state machinery.
April 28, 2021
Lynn Atkinson:
Top comment.
You read my mind.
April 28, 2021
Lynn, I wonder if ‘test and trace’ did work and the government knew exactly what connections were around the UK, what people arrived in the UK with covid and went in wheelchairs to hospitals. Australia can have one arrival (who tested covid negative before they flew) that infects 22 others from their hotel quarantine so just multiply that with the visitors we allowed to flow into the UK.
The tax system is also very efficient and the new digital tax systems (inc paye monthly transfers), and the council tax systems so these computer systems can work when they are taking your money.
April 28, 2021
No, the Tories didn’t do so well with e-Borders, or with the European Union’s police database-sharing either, did they, Lynn?
April 28, 2021
+1 to L.A. and Barbara
April 28, 2021
We lost a much needed Post Office here because the Postmaster was accused of misdemeanours.
Somehow it was taken as an opportunity to shut the PO rather than appoint a new Postmaster.
A conspiracy theorist might say that the whole exercise was part of the drive to meld with the EU re postal services. As ever, discredit and then destroy.
After all, e mail is an absolute bind and we had a fabulous postal service …3 posts a day at one time.
But like everything else good..it had to be ripped up.
April 28, 2021
Everhopeful
Yes, not only three posts a day, but at one time your letter could arrive the same day you posted it.
April 28, 2021
I have some old postcards. (Between the wars).
You are quite right…there are several arranging and agreeing to a meeting for the same day! A nice tea I believe , not a horrible business thing. Amazing.
April 28, 2021
Good morning.
I do not know the ins and outs of this matter but, isn’t the Post Office now a private company and, where they the ones that committed this error ? If the aforementioned is indeed the case, by what right is the government, and thereby the taxpayer, liable ? To me the liability is with the (privately owned) Post Office and it is it that should bare the costs.
If there has been government intransigence over this matter, then what advice was given and by whom ?
I feel sorry for anyone who has had their lives blighted by such matters and I commend our kind host and all those that worked with him to get justice but, this handing over taxpayers money and letting off a private business is simply not on. This smack rather like the Dieselgate affair where British consumers where encouraged by the government to by diesel cars only to find that fraud was committed by one large German manufacturer. Where is their compensation ???
Reply The Post Office is 100% state owned. Royal Mail is private sector which had nothing to do with this.
April 28, 2021
I thought DPD owned them
April 28, 2021
Yes to everything you have said, but as soon as I read that government was setting up an enquiry I shuddered. It means delay for years. They should set up a compensation payment agency with the aim to clear up this horrible business by Christmas latest. Legal bills in full, loss of earnings, loss of pension rights, consequential losses, large lump sums as compensation for imprisonment and or slurs on their character should be the automatic order of the day.
If government want an enquiry, make it a police investigation into the malicious wrong doings of post office management, with penalties.
April 28, 2021
Was this piece too early and direct for current thinking.
April 28, 2021
As you say Agricola – ANY “enquiry” will just be a delaying tactic. Look at Hillsborough. Drag it out long enough and eventually everyone affected by it will be dead – and that is how the elite want the rest of us. We are here to work, be taxed – and blamed. The elite will look after the elite. Certain ex-members of the govts show it.
April 28, 2021
How odd that there’s no ‘widespread anger in the House’ on scandals of a brutality and barbarity that dwarf what we have seen here. Mid Staffs for example or the verboten issue that both parties have worked hard to crush debate upon.
Politicians view scandals through the prism of politics rather through the prism of morality and that is nauseating and utterly offensive on every level
April 28, 2021
Well, you make your points.
I would also add to those the fact that local authorities are effectively compelled to outsource a wide range of activities to the private sector, often including building regulation inspection, to those whose other interests may sometimes conflict with their duties to public safety.
An inquiry is looking at how this may have contributed to the deaths of seventy-two people in Grenfell Tower.
A similar thing appears to have happened with certification for Boeing airworthiness.
We must end this doctrinaire de-professionalisation and casualisation of absolutely crucial people in society such as them and public health inspectors..
They should enjoy comparable authority, independence and respect as members of the judiciary, not be hired in from “agencies” or “consultancies”.
April 28, 2021
MiC
Whether they are public or private sector the exact same laws, rules, regulations and directives apply.
April 29, 2021
But there is generally no TEMPTATION to break them in the public sector, because the breaker will not personally benefit from any cash savings, e.g. by fitting cheap, flammable cladding, or by gaining other contracts from a different client based on his lax application etc.
Do you not even get this?
April 29, 2021
and have you never heard of a bung?
April 29, 2021
MiC
Nonsense.
There have been many useless public sector organisations that have failed to follow laws, directives, rules and regulations.
Some even caused deaths.
April 28, 2021
In fairness to members of the House it is not easy to sense feelings about anything when so few of them are there. Theatre is on hold for awhile.
I presume, ” Collective Responsibility” is a dimmer switch on morality to the point where you are sacked or resign if you are a minister, witness Johnny Mercer. Back benchers are free to express themselves as they wish and often do. They have not all lost their moral compass.
April 28, 2021
I am so glad they got justice…although nothing can heal those sorts of wounds…not really.
Everyone knows that govt. computer systems donât work.
Yet the govt. believes it can govern through computer modelling!
April 28, 2021
Good Morning,
Post Office strategy was; deny the problem was their own until forced to acknowledge and accept it. Now, where else do we see that attitude in public life….
April 28, 2021
On the other side action should be taken against the Horizon and Post office senior staff who pursued these prosecutions when many knew they were in the wrong. Resigning from current well paid positions is not justice – they should be pursued through the criminal system.
April 28, 2021
peter, I wonder how the Directors of a private business would be treated?
April 28, 2021
Indeed it is hard to believe that at least some senior people within the post office are not guilty of perverting the course of justice. The legal system which gave the Post Office special powers of prosecution seems to have meant that many victims were advised to plead guilty and did so. How can it have been âbeyond reasonable doubtâ that the software had errors? Especially given so many were being accused.
It seems it was very hard for the victims to effectively challenge the Post Office claims that the software was infallible. Surely it was the duty of the prosecution to prove this software was infalible. Yet the Post Office must have known of the software and/or hardware problems.
April 28, 2021
The UK legal system fails in so very many ways it is so often become yet another tax and burden on the public and the productive. It benefits few but the (essentially parasitic in the main) lawyers while costing almost everyone else. Slow, expensive & largely irrational. The hugely damaging attacks on the Gig Economy for example and idiotic employment laws that deter employment, idiotic tenancy laws that deter lettings …
But then judges are lawyers in the industry and have an incentive to make judgement that encourage more and more litigation and legal activity. Lawyer benefit from slow, expensive, unclear laws and multi level courts. The public want clear, cheap, quick and decisive. We clearly have the former.
April 28, 2021
The public what laws the deter litigation and legal costs and encourage early settlement, lawyers benefit from the complete reverse.
April 28, 2021
It is beyond belief that this terrible public sector scandal with the monstrous injustice which has been perpetrated has been driven from the headlines and airways by the inane BBC-Labour hysteria over what Boris Johnson is alleged to have said in some meeting and other irrelevant trivia.
Of course the wrongly accused and convicted must be compensated. Letâs also see some accountability with the officials responsible being named, shamed and fired.
On the matter of the irrelevant trivia, Sir James Dyson confirms that the BBC have made a âgrotesque mischaracterisationâ of his relationship with the Conservative Party. No surprise there. The BBC and the left hate him for his support of Brexit, and are scrambling around desperately for material to attack the govt with now project fear has been shown to be complete nonsense and the Conservatives are ahead in the polls.
April 28, 2021
Dealing with the BBC is long overdue. Little has been achieved by changing the captain after its longstanding collision with the iceberg. A few good men have opted for alternative employment but that only strengthens the position of those who choose to remain. A root and branch cull of remaining management is long overdue or the alternative consignment of news and current affaires to the commercial world. Who in government has the courage to do it by wielding the financial stick.
April 28, 2021
+1
April 28, 2021
Will the people responsible escape prosecution? Until there are penalties for ‘turning a blind eye’ these occurrences, such as the grooming scandal, will continue to happen.
April 28, 2021
Good morning Sir John.
A real abuse of what can only be seen as privalaged and neglect of duty. The bosses the legal teams all lashed out and ruined peoples lives without a single bit of consideration to due diligence. How can that happen, be permitted, and no one held to account.
Meanwhile those that were duty bound, because of their well paid for position get rewarded and praised big time. Big bonuses, the country bestows honours on them – they are set for life. It would appear what ever happens next, a bit like those that were at the root of the banking crisis situation keep their ill gotten gains.
Those whos lives were ruined, the ones still living might see monetary compensation. Yet bizarrely it appears yet again it will be the not be those responsible for their lack of ability that suffers but the taxpayer again that foots the bill.
April 28, 2021
The attitude and behaviour of top PO management has been criminal. They knew that they were lying to the court.
April 28, 2021
Isn’t there such a thing as “culpable negligence” these people can be charged with? Surely, if it were some sort of limited company the directors etc would be in hot water.
April 28, 2021
If you can commit war crimes, start illegal wars, kill millions of people, make millions into refugees, starve people with sanctions etc. there is no penalty – only if you show it then it’s jail for you.
Now with the excuse of stopping vexatious allegations of war crimes the British govt. is going to stop them – they are so useless they cannot determine what is a vexatious claim and dismiss it properly.
Justice has been made into a dirty word.
April 28, 2021
I agree, John.
But let us contrast the vehemence with which this class of people have been pursued, with the mere feathers, with which those of a different class are “thrashed” for genuine wrongdoing, and involving far, far greater sums, or the breaking of the rules on which our very democracy is founded, shall we?
What does that tell you about this country?
April 28, 2021
Have you any examples of your claims MiC?
April 29, 2021
Where ever have you been these last few moths?
April 29, 2021
Sat at home.
Where have you been?
April 28, 2021
MIC it tells us that the country remains in the control of an establishment that is ripe for reform. It is rare that reform comes from within that which needs reform in a world lacking commercial pressure.
April 28, 2021
Fine. But jobs and lives are being destroyed by Tory lockdown right now and on a scale much bigger than the post office.
What is the point of a world beating vaccine programme if you’re going to ignore it ?
April 28, 2021
It is truly honourable that you write about this, JR.
“The least the Post Office should do is offer generous compensation along with their belated apology. ”
…..That would be the very least.
My own view is that heads absolutely need to role, AND, given the fact that innocent people’s lives were ruined financially I do think it right and fair that the signatories for the flawed system, and those involved in the subsequent cover – up should lose their pensions. Eye for an eye is the only proper justice here.
April 28, 2021
Well said
April 28, 2021
Well how about those Establishment characters who were in charge losing both their pensions and their freedoms? Cover-ups like this are an outrage. We know the old excuses will be trotted out about “we won’t find anybody for the job if their predecessors have been locked up” but how about instilling a culture of these tawdry characters resigning from their jobs rather than follow through with such horrendous cover-ups, bullying and imprisonment?
April 28, 2021
The compensation scheme should not be liked or timed in any way by the progress on any inquiry. All those wrongly convicted or accused should have their costs and expenses reimbursed immediately. Also as a matter of urgency a scheme should be planned to verify loss of earnings and other expenses and form the second part of paying compensation.
The third phase of compensation ie ‘damages’ will come once the inquiry has established how incompetent the Post Office management and its systems department were throughout this whole saga. These people need their lives restored immediately.
Inquiries take years and there is no justification to prolong the agony these people have been put through.
April 28, 2021
Money and apologies are never enough compensate people who have spent more than a decade fighting for their complete innocence, who have undergone extreme stress, financial cost, loss of their business and income and in some cases even the loss of their home, apart from gaining a criminal record.
Having said all of that, financial compensation and a fulsome public apology is the simplest and quickest way to try and make amends.
The other action is to prosecute all those who took part in the original prosecution, knowing it was in effect a giant cover up of a computer systems failure.
I hope the Compensation will be swift and huge, because anyone who has been taken to Court, or taken Court action against others, will know that it is all consuming and comes at the expense of almost anything else at the time.
April 28, 2021
+1
April 28, 2021
It is the people responsible that need to be held to account and not to be allowed to shelter behind corporate limited liability and government veils.
April 28, 2021
âThey plan an Inquiry and a compensation scheme.â
There should also be prosecutions for the main people behind the cover up.
April 28, 2021
Sir John, I would have thought compensation would be number 3 on the list, right after criminal prosecutions for perjury and withholding evidence from the defence by the prosecution, and disbarment for the lawyers who continued to prosecute post masters and sub post masters even after they had ample evidence that the people accused were innocent.
Unless there are more serious personal penalties for the managers and leadership who conducted this disgraceful campaign, nothing will change. People committed suicide due to their actions. Post facto compensation for wrongs doesnât fix the issues with the system of rules, laws and behaviours that led to this in the first place.
Politicians should show some leadership and figure out how to stop this ever happening again, not just talk about compensation.
April 28, 2021
+100
April 28, 2021
I agree with you. It is a normal tendency for government and its agencies to cover up things that go wrong. We see it here with the Post Office; we have seen it in the results of long delayed enquiries into bad practices in hospitals and other state controlled institutions. In such situations the bureaucracy looks after itself and its own backside. For the consumer of the services they supply there usually is no alternative to the monopoly supplier.
April 28, 2021
The Post Office managers that doggedly pursued these innocent postmasters and postmistresses should be prosecuted.
April 28, 2021
Too true TT – -they should have every penny took off them – which should be handed to the victims. They should ALSO be jailed – Let them feel what it is like.
April 28, 2021
Agreed, and the least the Government should do is immediately strip all responsible Post Office executives of honours and distinctions conferred by the State and instruct the Attorney General to urgently consider prosecutions of same.
I saw a report that one of the falsely accused had taken his own life. The Post Office managers have much to answer for.
April 28, 2021
+1. The general public should not be footing the bill without punishment of the culpable. It is a long-standing tradition among our elite that arrogance or incompetence which would get an ordinary person the sack is instead rewarded with promotion and an honour.
April 28, 2021
This saga is a stark demonstration of the arrogance of the establishment.
The same issue was reported several times but the assumption was that the fault lay with the little people. That is the default position which is plain wrong. If an anomaly is reported it deserves proper investigation in any walk of life.
April 28, 2021
The “Little People” rarely have the collective power to facilitate a nationwide scam on the scale of that in the Post Office. It starts with blinkers and inertia in management, then expand to looking for scapegoats to shield their own incompetence. By the time the real cause is accepted it is too late to prevent the damage to the innocent, and then there is cover up and those responsible leave with a fat pension and a K. Management by inertia.
April 28, 2021
The scandal begs the question to renationalise the Post Office
I recognise the company now has many competitors inc internet
However Post Offices and postal delivery are at the heart of many communities.
Such a service is better in the public sector
On a separate topic
I note the EU has ratified the so called trade deal with a note that any deviation from the agreement will bring consequences inc the first part of the Brexit agreement
I guess this can mean
Trade sanctions
No flights over the EU
Iâm sure the USA administration is watching carefully and could follow with a international trade blockade if the Gov decides to legislate against the NI agreement
I guess I need to keep my comments to myself about the current press and news
Headlines that Iâm sure will become clearer with time
Reply What an embarrassing revelation of your prejudices. The Post Office is 100% state owned, with government appointees on the Board. Royal Mail is a private sector company which does not own or run the Post Offices and has no part in this scandal! This does need an apology from you.
April 28, 2021
To reply yes indeed – once again it is a state sector problem. Rather like the Greville Tower tragedy (Owned by the state, managed by the state, clad by the state pushing green lunacy, the state run fire brigade (with incompetent senior managers keeping people in the flats), building control and building regs run by the state) but almost never is anyone in the state sector ever held to account. At worst they resign with a nice pay off and a pension.
Look also at the endless stream of appalling NHS scandals – no one is ever held to account.
April 28, 2021
no surprise that such an ignorant comment comes packaged with a whole lot of nonsense about the EU trade deal. further confirmation that there’s no need to listen to people like you. you with completely misunderstand basic facts or just make stuff up to fit your world view. embarrassing indeed!
April 28, 2021
Sir JR,
When I make such a big error as I did in my piece about nationalising a nationalised organisation then I need to appologise and I do so willing here.
I made the big mistake by not remembering the difference between Royal Mail and the Post Office and yes on this specific point its an embarrassment on my part.
Thank you for pointing this error out.
Non of us are too big not to offer an apology when we get our facts wrong.
April 28, 2021
Well done David. Said sincerely.
April 28, 2021
I read this blog & comments everyday. This is my first comment.
I have been a SubPostmaster for 19 years.
The Horizon computer system was already installed in my branch. I âlostâ ÂŁ5,000 in October 2010. I was contractually obliged to make it good.
The legal advice I took before signing the Contract was very clear:
âIf anything, ANYTHING, goes wrong it is ALL down to youâ.
Believing myself and wife to be honest and hardworking I was happy to sign up.
Since Justice Fraserâs damming conclusions in Nov 2019 and the publication of the âClarkeâ ( Post Officeâs external QC back in 2013 ) evidence just last week which unequivocally shows the degree of incompetence and corruption at the highest levels of Post Office management ( including Senior Civil Servants ) I would recommend anyone wishing to gain more information than available in the MSM should look at Nick Wallisâs blog âpostofficetrialâ.
I have made a claim for my âlostâ ÂŁ5,000 under the Historic Shortfall Scheme set up by Post Office.
I have little faith in recovering that money.
Very sad that some lost their lives , livelihoods, homes and families as well as reputations.
April 28, 2021
+1
April 28, 2021
A a victim, it would be interesting to hear your views on what these misdemeanours warrant as reparations by the Civil Servants and PO management, and comment by Labour politicians.
Let’s compare and contrast to the possible “misdemeanour” of a Prime Minister paying/not paying for some decorations in a flat which the state owns and of which it is the ultimate beneficiary.
April 28, 2021
âIf anything, ANYTHING, goes wrong it is ALL down to youâ.
That cannot be a legal clause (I’m not a lawyer though)- what’s the definition of ANYTHING?
April 29, 2021
and you signed THAT!
April 28, 2021
Too true Sir John!
They should be made to give immediate payments to the victims “without prejudice”.
It is time that the government protects those who work for the country instead of against it.
April 28, 2021
No, no, no. The people responsible for the decision to prosecute knowing there was an issue with the new software should be prosecuted for perverting the course of justice.
April 28, 2021
+1
April 28, 2021
Iâm under the impression that a class action brought on behalf of some of the sub postmasters resulted in them being awarded ÂŁ50 million in damages. ÂŁ38 million of this was taken by the lawyers.
I hope that they bring another private prosecution for criminally perverting the course of justice. The powers that be will not prosecute the culprits.
April 28, 2021
Yes – absolutely Mike.
If someone knowingly allowed innocent people to be jailed and/or financially ruined – then they should face criminal charges and suffer a similar fate. Compensation (paid by the PO) does not deter these people, they take their exit bonus and move on elsewhere. This would be much harder to do if they had a criminal record.
April 28, 2021
Agreed!
April 28, 2021
Mike Wilson
Agree wholeheartedly +1
April 28, 2021
I see Ed Miliband and David Lammy are both demanding a full public inquiry. This appalling scandal started in 1999, and faults with the system were consistently denied during the Labour administration: who were the Government ministers responsible for the Post Office at that time?
April 28, 2021
O/T: Good to see that Aquind Energy is expected to be investing ÂŁ1.2bn for a 148-mile cable between Normandy (Barnabos) and Portsmouth possibly providing 2GW, up to 5% of the UK electricity (to the interconnector at Lovedean) together with a major fibre optic data link to continental Europe. This could become operational by the end of 2022 if Kwasi Kwarteng as Business Secretary gives the final green light to the project.
April 28, 2021
I understand that the Post Office boss has resigned?
The apology has come too late for many of the individuals accused, theyâve all had their reputations destroyed….. prosecutions are the answer… disgraceful
April 28, 2021
@Lester; I think you will find it was the previous CEO who has resigned from her current directorships with other companies, plus certain other roles.
April 28, 2021
But why only now, when she was “found out?”
Establishment finally gives the nod and wink?
April 28, 2021
Lester
“prosecutions are the answer”
Agreed, but it would be just and fair to go after the culprit’s pensions. See how they like to be financially ruined. (and serve as a deterrent to dishonourable conduct to future managers) Eye for an eye.
April 28, 2021
Resignation is not enough. That is just what seems to happen in the Police Service when someone wants to avoid disciplinary actions. That is too easy a way out.
April 28, 2021
So the message is clear; if thereâs anything this government doesnât want to talk about all they have to do is mark it as an enquiryâŠ.hey presto no one at cabinet level can talk about it for months/years
April 28, 2021
Preferably an âelectoral commissionâ enquiry! Those honest, disinterested people! We are bound to get the truth!
April 28, 2021
This is an example of how a scandal from years ago can come back to haunt those involved. Individuals, groups, organisations who may have thought theyâd dodged responsibility.
I noticed also this week a case regarding Hillsborough is back in court. Hillsborough was 32 years ago.
Last year there was a Bloody Sunday case in court – nearly 50 years on.
Justice has a funny way of coming back to bite those involved in shameful events which harm peopleâs lives and damage our country.
It can take many years, many decades even. But justice is always done in the end.
On the day the European Parliament ratifies the Brexit trade deal the Brexitists would do well to remember this lesson. They really will not get away with it.
April 28, 2021
andy
Get away with what?
April 28, 2021
Andy
Brexit has nothing to do with the topic.
April 28, 2021
Andy, mate, are you talking about all those EU accounts sign-offs?
April 28, 2021
Grow up. Get away with what! Countering the lies of project fear! You are charged with voting to leave the EU. How do you plead?
I donât plead. It is not an offence to vote in a referendum. Yet.
April 28, 2021
If the PM is taking advice from a certain out of office PM…how can it come as any any surprise if there are leaks and spies in Number 10?
The latest rumour is that this particular former PM is behind the lengthening of the lockdown we are in at the moment. And pushing for the âvaccinationâ to be extended to children
No wonder BJ looks flustered.
April 28, 2021
Here’s something to interest you:
https://facts4eu.org/news/2021_apr_eu_out_of_work#
“You are over 50% more likely to be unemployed in the EU than in the UK”
“In the Eurozone itâs worse: your chances of being unemployed are almost 70% higher”
April 28, 2021
This was a terrible business. How it happened needs to be properly investigated, and the right lessons learned. There is no question but that those affected must be generously compensated.
April 28, 2021
After any tragedy (or gross incompetence or worse) such as this we get an inquiry and officials say – it is very different now, lessons will be learned (or have been), it could not happen now, it was a long time ago, we were under resourced, the staff have moved on ( but they rarely are). How long did Hillsborough take to almost get to the truth? 30+ years?
Amazingly there are often so many official bodies, people, regulators … involved so they can all blame each other and do so. Often they then set up even more new government bodies to oversee the overseers. Then it all happens again.
April 28, 2021
TEW. The Establishment Way.
April 28, 2021
It doesn’t really need an enquiry, those in charge of the business neglected their first responsibilities as officers of they business – ‘due-diligence’. It was solely incumbent on them to ensure that their accusations were correct before embarking this vendetta.
April 28, 2021
No doubt where compensation or legal action against friends of the government are concerned they will kick it into the long grass despite any promises made, hoping that many will pass away before they have to do anything.
The Grenfell Tower disgrace is a case in point. Years have passed, virtually nothing has changed, people were promised that if they live in buildings similarly clad they would not have to pay, yet many still have to pay for fire wardens, cannot sell their blighted homes and are being made bankrupt. Don’t believe anything this government promises, it won’t happen. We’ve learned that from the NI agreement in Brexit. Lies about something as momentous historically as Brexit proves they cannot be trusted. At he same time they dish out foreign aid in billions for doubtful causes to corrupt regimes like China and some African states, but cannot find the money for people wronged here by their own incompetent government rules and regulations and incompetently enforced building regulations. This is yet another case for custodial sentences on the guilty, but which will never happen if it embarrasses the government.
April 28, 2021
This unfortunate affair is yet another example of the consequences of political meddling in industries which Arts graduate politicians are unable to understand. The contract for the Horizon project was awarded to ICL, a computer company created by politicians from several smaller entirely technologically incompatible companies as their champion to take on the might of IBM. Politicians have this idea that to create a large successful company all one needs to do is to screw together several smaller companies. They’ve tried it so many times and every time it either fails or results in a technologically backward monster with an insatiable appetite for taxpayer’s money.
ICL was a company which throughout its existence lacked proper leadership or a clear direction; it did not seem so much like a business as a civil service department. Its involvement with Fujitsu began as a consequence of the fact that unlike IBM, it was unable to manufacture the computer chips essential to powering a mainframe computer system.
The Horizon system could not have been subjected to an adequate systems test by ICL or acceptance by the post Office otherwise it would not have gone into production in the state that it did.
April 28, 2021
An enquiry will probably take years, as is usual in such matters. The enquiry takes ages, then everyone named has the right of examination of what is being said about them. That takes another age.
Those guilty will have plenty of time to get their excuses ready.
It is known what went wrong. It is known who is responsible.
There is enough known to bring prosecutions and they should be brought immediately. No-one should listen to pleadings for more time.
Will it happen? Of course it won’t. The victims need more than clearance, and compensation is not enough although it seems tbe government and Sir John seem to think it is since nothing further is mentioned.
That’s not justice.
April 28, 2021
Why have the senior Post Office management who were involved in this scandal, not been arrested yet ?
The police are very eager to arrest peoople out for a walk, if they are carrying a flask of coffee, but not in this Post Office case it seems. Too hard ?
April 28, 2021
Did any monies go missing?
Was Horizon accounting software using double entry?
This nightmare reminds me of Equity Life black hole in 2000.
I million savers lost their savings. 900,000 did not receive all their pensions.
Compensation has still not been agreed. Wait a few more years to allow more
of the claiments to pass away.
This will be the strategy of The Post Office and the Government.
April 29, 2021
clearly the management, directors and highly paid Project team were not going to admit the software faults. Obviously no ‘whistle blower’ was prepared to lose out on the gravy train.
April 28, 2021
Paula Vennells, the CEO of Post Office Ltd between 2012 to 2019, after considering her position has resigned from all of her directorships etc and also her position as a Minister in the Church of England. Whilst under her leadership the Post Office organised the prosecution of the postmasters – which involved many of them serving time in prison – despite knowing that it was the software that was at fault.
Accepting responsibility for this fiasco and doing the decent thing has shown true leadership. It is much regretted that those responsible for the deaths of ~150,000 people in this country due to the Chinese plague virus have not followed her example.
April 28, 2021
Thank you for mentioning this matter on more than one occasion, JR.
1 billion spent on the inaccurate Horizon system and then a deliberate cover-up of its fatal shortcomings – I agree with other commenters that prosecutions are in order, and not in ten or twenty yearsâ time.
I also note with horror that the CEO at the time, Paula Vennels, is now an Anglican priest.
April 28, 2021
There was a time when we just didnât believe you âŠ.now we also donât trust you !
April 28, 2021
Did anyone in the Post Office Executive Team not think ‘hold on, a couple of thefts’ let’s investigate the people’, multiple thefts from previously loyal and hard working postmasters ‘perhaps this is about the systems rather than the people’?
April 29, 2021
for multiple read hundreds.
April 28, 2021
Clearing the victims’ names and compensating them is insufficient. This is one of those scandals so great that all of the Post Office executives who introduced and stood by the flawed monitoring system should be ruined and it is Government’s job to see that this happens.
April 29, 2021
While “people have lost their livelihoods and seen their reputations savaged” others have lost their lives. Public inquiries are of extremely limited value, time consuming, and rarely assist the victims or deter a later repeat of such behaviour. “Lesson were learned” has become a phrase that means nothing will be done.
A police investigation into perverting the course of justice, and resulting Criminal Prosecution of those responsible, would do far more especially as it then opens those individuals up to civil suits.
(I note the government has not learned from this, pushing peoples details onto an NHS app that many of the low income cannot access, that is not disabled accessible, and that breaches data protection by sharing the data with Google due to the platform it runs on and the account it is accessed through.)
May 4, 2021
Well said.
Surely there must be people who were in the Post Office (thinking of directors and finance officials) who are culpable for and must answer for this and should now be facing charges and heavy sentences. If not, why not.