Archives :
Inquiry
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Another Compensation Scheme Gets Another Appeal Mechanism
A new appeal mechanism for applicants to the (now closed) Post Office Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS) has been announced by the government. This follows a direct recommendation from the Chair of the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry in July last year. The HSS was first announced in 2020. In those days it was called the…
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Project Brisbane – a report the Post Office is desperate to keep secret
In January 2022 the researcher Eleanor Shaikh was poring over some written evidence submitted by the Business Department (then known as BEIS) to the Business Select Committee in March 2020. In an annex to the evidence, there was a timeline. One line of the timeline read: “September 2015: The Post Office Minister commissions POL’s new…
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Restorative Justice Council Subpostmaster report pt 1 arrives
In July this year, as part of Volume 1 of his final report, the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry chair Sir Wyn Williams required Fujitsu, the government and the Post Office to deliver a report “outlining any agreed programme of restorative justice and/or actions taken by that date to produce such a programme.” The Post Office,…
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Now at least thirteen suicides directly linked to Post Office Scandal
Part one of Sir Wyn Williams’ report into the Post Office Horizon scandal has landed. He makes a total of nineteen recommendations, crunches a number of significant figures and as per the headline to this piece, reveals the number of lives lost as a direct result of this scandal. Dealing with the most significant statistic…
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Post Office CEO allegedly sought to put back redress target to secure bonus
Jane Davies, the former Chief People Officer at the Post Office claims that Post Office management, led by CEO Nick Read, attempted to delay a key compensation target date in order to ensure they qualified for a bonus. Ms Davies said “changing this target would result in slower compensation payments, in favour of paying a…
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Closing statements: Day 2 – Circular Firing Squad
There were some good points made today, but the main one was a big shrug – “not me, mate”. In this blog post I’m going to focus on what was said by the various core participants’ barristers. For more on what it was like to be there and why there’s a basket full of chocolate…
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Closing statements: Day 1
The hearing room was packed today as Subpostmasters, their supporters, lawyers, journalists and members of the public attended a long day of submissions at Aldwych House in London. First out of the blocks was Ed Henry KC who sought to draw the line of conspiracy upwards through the executive to the Post Office board. Henry…
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Dame Sandra Dawson vs Paula Vennells’ lawyer
I am publishing this blog post largely as an excuse to use one of my favourite screenshots of the entire Inquiry. See above. Corporate governance experts Dame Sandra Dawson and Dr Katy Steward wrote two lengthy reports about the Post Office’s corporate governance responsibilities and failings when it came to the scandal. On 12 and…
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Post Office Inquiry costs to top £50m
The cost of the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry is likely to be well over £50,000,000. Reports for the last financial year alone reveal the Inquiry cost £26,198,625 to run, more than the previous three years combined. Figures quietly published on the Inquiry website show that in the twelve months to the end of March…
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Kemi Badenoch: I’m Great
The Kemi Badenoch Show came to the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry today, along with significant media interest and attendance from a good number of Subpostmasters in the hearing room. Badenoch, as leader of the Conservative Party, is a potential future Prime Minister. She was, until July this year, the Business Secretary. Badenoch had the…