Post Office ought to be handed over to postmasters, former boss says

The Post Office ought to be “handed over” to postmasters, its former chairman has mentioned, accusing the federal government of utilizing it as a “fig leaf” for stalling and evasion.

In a letter seen completely by Sky News, Henry Staunton instructed the enterprise and commerce committee the federal government has “consistently hidden behind the Post Office’s skirts, spinning their way away from trouble”.

He additionally accused the Department for Business and Trade of not proudly owning as much as their “failings” or doing “the decent thing” by sub-postmasters.

Hundreds of sub-postmasters had been wrongly convicted of theft and false accounting primarily based on proof from defective Horizon IT software program between 1999 and 2015.

Mr Staunton, who was sacked in January, wrote to Liam Byrne, the chair of the enterprise and commerce committee, after an explosive assembly on Tuesday.

MPs had been instructed by the previous Post Office chairman that its current chief executive, Nick Read, was under investigation.

Mr Staunton was answering questions on an inner probe into his personal behaviour and about allegations he made that he had been instructed to stall on compensation funds to victims whereas he was chairman.

In the letter he mentioned: “The government cannot continue to dodge its responsibilities, pretending in public to be all heart and compassion, while it allows stony-faced lawyers to rack up their hours doing their best to prevaricate and penny-pinch.”

Read extra:
What is the Post Office scandal, why were postmasters prosecuted, and what is Horizon?
Postmistress felt she had to grovel for compensation

Describing “deep dysfunction” throughout the Post Office, he additionally referred to as for a “hard, concrete deadline” for sufferer compensation, “ideally no more than six months”.

He additionally mentioned the corporate must be “removed completely” from the compensation course of and referred to as for an unbiased physique to take over.

In his damning evaluation, Mr Staunton mentioned postmasters are “dying as the government attempts to evade its obligations. It’s the oldest trick in the book.”

As effectively as stating compensation ought to be elevated by £600,000 to £1m for every convicted publish grasp, he mentioned the Post Office ought to be taken out of presidency management by “handing it over, lock, stock and barrel to the post masters themselves.”

The letter, Mr Staunton acknowledged, is about setting down “some further thoughts on what now needs to be done”.

It is the newest in a disagreement between Mr Staunton and authorities officers.

Last week, enterprise secretary Kemi Badenoch instructed the Commons there was “no evidence whatsoever” of Henry Staunton’s account that he was instructed to stall on compensation funds.

The gradual tempo at which former sub-postmasters are receiving compensation has, nevertheless, led to fierce criticism from victims, legal professionals and politicians.

Read extra:
Former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells formally stripped of CBE
Fujitsu ‘to have received £3.4bn’ despite role in Post Office scandal

Earlier this week the federal government introduced new measures to hurry up the method, together with an interim cost of £450,000 for individuals who have had convictions overturned.

Sky News has contacted the Post Office for remark.

A supply on the Department for Business and Trade mentioned: “While the government continues to do all it can to deliver justice for the postmasters, Henry Staunton is still making this all about him: trying to deflect from his terrible tenure as chair of the Post Office and the newspaper interview he gave that has fallen apart under scrutiny.

“We will not be distracted by this fixed mud-flinging, and we hope Mr Staunton will now determine a interval of silence is one of the simplest ways ahead.”