The Post Office is taking its time in addressing staff tied to the Horizon scandal, despite former minister Kevin Hollinrake pushing for firm actions against those individuals. He urged the Post Office to handle this matter swiftly, even if it meant facing an employment tribunal.
During the recent public inquiry, Post Office CEO Nick Read acknowledged that they hadn’t acted quickly enough regarding employees involved in auditing and investigation while the Post Office wrongfully prosecuted subpostmasters using faulty evidence. When questioned about Hollinrake’s earlier comments, Read agreed that the government’s message was indeed a call for decisive action, admitting, “I do not think we have been as robust as that.”
It also came to light that the Post Office’s strategy has been to offer redundancy packages to some former staff instead of pursuing disciplinary actions. Victims of the scandal are shocked that individuals linked to past prosecutions are still employed there.
In addition, Read revealed that as of June, 22 police forces were either waiting for data from the Horizon system or had already requested it for 33 investigations. He expressed surprise over the number of inquiries, suggesting it gave him “pause for thought.” The scandal, first highlighted by Computer Weekly in 2009, uncovered the extensive suffering of subpostmasters caused by the flawed Horizon accounting software, igniting the largest miscarriage of justice in British history.