Post Office faces questions over IT scandal bonuses

Minister demands explanation after bosses were paid for providing evidence to public inquiry

THE Post Office is facing a Government investigation after paying bonuses to executives for supplying evidence to the Horizon public inquiry.

Kevin Hollinrake, the business minister, has demanded an “immediate explanation” from the Post Office about the Horizon computer system scandal .

Parts of chief executive Nick Read’s £450,000 bonus were linked to providing “all required evidence and information on time”.

Mr Read wrote to Sir Wyn Williams, the Horizon inquiry chairman, saying that he had paid back the amount of bonus that was linked to this metric.

He also offered Sir Wyn a “personal apology” for implying that he had signed off the payout. Responding to an urgent question on the bonuses, Mr Hollinrake told the Commons: “The situation is extremely concerning and deeply regrettable and the Post Office is right to apologise.”

Amanda Burton, the Post Office’s incoming remuneration committee chairman, will lead an “immediate investigation into this incident” and is expected to report back to the business minister within two weeks.

Mr Hollinrake continued: “This is a very serious issue, particularly considering it comes at a time when it is essential that the public should have confidence that the culture and processes at the Post Office have been improved.”

He added: “The Post Office’s CEO has also apologised to DBT [Department for Business and Trade] ministers, but more needs to be done.”

The Post Office’s defective Horizon system led to hundreds of subpostmasters being prosecuted for theft, fraud and false accounting.

Several have since had their convictions overturned. Others have died before receiving compensation for being implicated in the scandal. The Post Office’s annual report for last year stated that executives had met all their obligations to support the inquiry. The inquiry is yet to be completed, however.

Corporate filings stated that the Post Office had received “confirmation from Sir Wyn and his team that Post Office’s performance supported and enabled the inquiry to finish in line with expectations”.

This triggered bonuses to executives. Duncan Baker, Conservative MP for

North Norfolk and a former postmaster, said: “It’s clearly an absolute scandal that Post Office executives are being paid a bonus for co-operating with a scandal they all turned a blind eye to.”

Labour’s Kevan Jones said Mr Read “needs to resign or be sacked”, adding of the company: “Frankly it is rotten to the core still.”

Alan Bates, head of the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance, said: “Post Office has long been a business that is out of control and needs dismantling and rebuilding from the ground up.”