Post Office appoints new director to implement Horizon settlement measures

The Post Office said it has appointed a new director to implement measures agreed in the settlement of Horizon dispute with subpostmasters.

The network also revealed on 13 August that it has received more than 1,300 applications in its Historical Shortfall Scheme for current and former postmasters who believe they experienced shortfalls related to previous versions of the Horizon computer system.

The scheme closes at midnight of 14 August, but postmasters who could not submit applications due to special circumstances may get in touch with the scheme at historicalshortfallscheme@postoffice.co.uk as soon as possible.

The scheme was launched on 1 May following the settlement in December 2019 between over 550 claimant postmasters and the Post Office in the long-running Horizon trial. The scheme is intended for postmasters who were not part of the litigation settlement.

A week after the settlement, in which the Post Office agreed to pay £58 million to the litigants, the High Court ruled in favour of the postmasters, finding issues in the robustness of the earlier versions of Horizon, which had the potential to affect branch accounting.

Post Office has also revealed that it has found another historical weakness in its stock processes for stamps.

An examination of other branch processes unrelated to Horizon found the stamp stock procedures had the potential to produce cash surpluses or shortfalls for postmasters in certain circumstances and, in some cases involving a shortfall, that there may not have been an equivalent loss to Post Office.

The firm said it is set to introduce a redress mechanism, modelled on the Historical Shortfall Scheme, for postmasters who believe they may have been disadvantaged by this weakness in the old stock control process.

The Post Office has appointed Declan Salter as a new director to implement the claims schemes and a programme of operational measures to reset Post Office’s relationship with postmasters.

“We are making sure the mistakes of the past are fairly addressed for the people affected and can never happen again. We have made good progress with significant improvements for our postmasters,” said Nick Read, chief executive of Post Office

“Declan’s appointment will ensure we maintain momentum as we balance the importance of dealing with the past with our responsibilities to the many thousands of postmasters who are currently providing vital services for our customers across the UK every day.”

The Post Office has, as part of the settlement measures, already taken several steps to improve the support provided for postmasters, from initial recruitment and training, through to daily transaction accounting, with nearly 100 area managers providing personalised, individual support and dedicated teams to investigate for postmasters if they have concerns.

The Post Office has also initiated a review to identify cases of prosecution since the introduction of Horizon system in 1999, which may have relied on Horizon data. The review has identified around 900 such cases as of late May.