PRESS RELEASE - POSTMASTERS FURIOUS AT POST OFFICE “BONUSGATE” AND DEMAND GOVERNMENT ACTION

Post Office Ltd CEO Nick Read has been forced to repay some of his enormous £455,000 bonus after the group was accused of inaccurately attributing Inquiry approval of certain metrics linked to executive bonuses. 

One of the targets set in order for Nick Read and others in the Post office to receive full bonuses was: “All required evidence and information supplied on time, with confirmation from Sir Wyn Williams and team that Post Office’s performance supported and enabled the Inquiry to finish in line with expectations” Post Office claimed that this target had been met and confirmed by Sir Wyn and the Inquiry Team in their Annual Report when in fact, it had not. 

Post Office has apologised and said Nick Read would return part of the £455,000 awarded to him in relation to the Inquiry bonus metric. The Board of the PO is still in discussions in relation to whether other senior executives who received bonuses under the same metric will be required to return a proportion of their bonuses.   

The Horizon scandal saw over 700 Postmasters, assistants, and employees of PO Ltd wrongly convicted over losses in the branch. To date, the Court of Appeal has overturned 83 people’s criminal convictions. The process of awarding compensation to those affected has been slow, and MPs have called the scandal one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British legal history.  

Having a bonus metric linked to submitting evidence for an Inquiry is morally wrong. However, to then state incorrectly that this target had been met, raises serious questions about the integrity of Post Office Ltd and how effectively they are overseen and managed by Government. Questions that require answering are:  

• How much of the Remuneration is Nick Read returning? It is being reported that it could be as much as 25%. If so, then this could be significantly higher than Horizon Scandal victims may receive – around five times more than the victims in the Group Litigation Order (GLO).  

• Who among the Board of Post Office Ltd or the senior executives signed off the Annual Report and knew that the statement that all evidence and information had been supplied on time was incorrect?   

• What does this suggest about the group morality of Post Office’s senior management? Are they willing to personally profit from the scandal and then publish misleading information in order to receive their full bonuses?  
• In view of the obvious lack of oversight of Post Office Ltd from the Government during the Horizon Scandal, what does this tell us about how or indeed if Post Office Ltd.'s activities are being properly overseen within Government?  

The NFSP calls upon: 

• Nick Read and Postal Affairs Minister Kevin Hollinrake to answer these questions when they address postmasters at the NFSP’s Annual Conference on 15 May.  

• The Department of Business & Trade (DBT) to intervene and investigate who else has benefited from this inaccuracy, and to find out how it could possibly have been allowed to take place. It is vital that we know the whole truth for the sake of the reputation of the Post Office and its network.  

• The NFSP repeats the call to set up an oversight committee made of key stakeholders including consumer champions with the power to scrutinise Post Office Ltd and ensure that the much-promised change of culture is finally delivered. This would also prevent further reputational damage from occurring, and the negative impacts on Postmaster remuneration  

From Calum Greenhow – CEO National Federation of SubPostmasters:  

“The very fact that PO thinks it is acceptable for their executives to gain a bonus linked to resolving historical matters shows their moral compass is well and truly out of alignment. Further, these same PO executives are getting generous bonuses before the victims receive full redress.”