MPs brand Post Office debacle 'national scandal'

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MPs attacked senior Post Office management on Wednesday in Parliament, criticising the handling of claims its IT system caused at least 150 sub-postmasters to be wrongly accused of false accounting and fraud.

Katy Clark and CWU subpostmasters Politicians from all political parties were in agreement of the Post Office's "duplicitous" handling of the affair, as well as the numerous issues with the IT system, Horizon. Members of Parliament shared tragic stories about sub-postmasters from their constituencies who had lost everything.

MP for Ogmore, Huw Irranca-Davies, spoke of sub-postmasters in his constituency who have been "hung out to dry". "They are either being accused of mass fraud-of being rogues-or of mass stupidity-of being fools," said Huw.

The evidence is overwhelming Horizon can and does go wrong under certain conditions, and the Post Office must be made to act with greater openness with the way it deals with its postmasters and the union when we bring these kinds of problems to their attention.

Conservative James Arbuthnot, MP for North East Hampshire, called the Adjournment Debate and has led the large group of MPs seeking justice for sub-postmasters accused of false accounting. He admitted last week that he had lost faith in the Post Office's commitment to resolve the outstanding cases.

Around 140 MPs have now officially withdrawn support from the Post Office mediation scheme. Kevan Jones, MP for North Durham branded the situation a "national scandal".

Sub-postmasters say computer software was responsible for the apparent loss of hundreds of thousands of pounds.

James Arbuthnot spoke about his constituent and sub-postmaster Jo Hamilton, who pleaded guilty to false accounting: "She first found that there was a discrepancy of, I think, £2,000. She rang up the help desk, which told her to press certain buttons, and immediately the discrepancy doubled to £4,000.

"Eventually the discrepancy rose and rose to more than £30,000. There was no proper investigation by the Post Office."

CWU sub-postmasters met with Katy Clark, Labour MP for North Ayrshire and Arran, before the debate to share their experiences: "The experience of those directly affected is that, if a problem occurs in relation to the finances, the initial response from the Post Office is to blame the postmaster or mistress rather than to conduct a serious inquiry to see whether there is a fault in the system or to find out what has gone wrong."

Katy continued: "That is devastating for the individuals involved, who, as has already been shown, often face years of anguish as a result."

Katy spoke about how CWU is supporting a number of members who are waiting for their cases to be heard as part of the Post Office mediation service. "The CWU gets involved with postmasters and postmistresses who are seeking help with the computer system on a regular basis. They are not necessarily being accused of anything, but they are having problems with the system. As workers, they find numerous problems with it, as has been highlighted in the debate," said Katy.

Katy Clark and CWU subpostmasters Mark Baker, branch secretary of the CWU Postmasters branch said: "The evidence is overwhelming Horizon can and does go wrong under certain conditions, and the Post Office must be made to act with greater openness with the way it deals with its postmasters and the union when we bring these kinds of problems to their attention."

The alleged problems associated with the Post Office Horizon mediation scheme are yet another example of the "overall mismanagement of the Post Office", said Andy Furey, national officer. "The Post Office is seemingly being managed into decline, as we have seen firsthand with the very real threat of compulsory redundancies to workers in the admin and supply chain units."


Andrew Bridgen, Member for North West Leicestershire agreed: "I honestly think we will need a full clear-out of Post Office management before we get a change of attitude in this important public institution."

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