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As the outgoing Post Office chief executive Nick Read prepares to face the public inquiry into the Post Office scandal, a damning whistleblower letter has emerged, describing a culture of lies and cover-up in the organisation that employs him and has paid him millions of pounds to clean up.
Read, who was brought in to steady and reform the Post Office after its life-destroying treatment of subpostmasters was exposed in the landmark 2018/19 High Court defeat, is overseeing a cover-up in an organisation that rewards an inner circle of his “favourites,” according to a group of his employees. The whistleblower letter, sent in May this year, was revealed during a recent hearing of the inquiry.
After months in the spotlight and calls for his resignation from victims of the Post Office scandal, Read announced in September that he will step down in March 2025. This week, from 9 October, he faces three days in the witness stand being questioned about the state of the company he leads.
Staff call for help
In the message sent to MPs, Post Office interim chairman Nigel Railton, the chair of the public inquiry Wyn Williams, and lead inquiry lawyers, a group describing themselves as “highly disenfranchised Post Office employees” asked for support in addressing the “ongoing intolerable leadership and cover up within the Post Office.”
The whistleblowers wrote: “We represent a significant group from all levels of Post Office, who are sick and tired of being lied to and watching certain managers being favoured and protected, because they are part of the inner circle of Nick Read.”
The Post Office employees claim the culture at the organisation is “terrible” and there is not, nor has there ever been “a plan in place to address the wrongs of the past”.
“We wish to remain anonymous for no other reason than we do not believe we will be protected by the current regime headed by Nick Read, that he will regard what we have to say as a slight on his own leadership, the result of which will be a dogged campaign to tarnish and remove us from the organisation,” they wrote. “We have seen this happen too many times, to too many people over the last few years.”
The letter alleges a cover-up of the state of the culture and trust within the Post Office today. According to the whistleblowers, a recent survey of subpostmasters and Post Office staff showed “significant declining trends in culture and trust between senior leaders and the rest of the business.”
They said Post Office staff are being denied access to the results of the survey, as the company covers up complaints and unhappiness: “We are deeply frustrated that despite several requests to see the full results we are being denied access. This ongoing cover-up is unacceptable particularly in the light of the public inquiry and the expectation that things are changing for the better.”
Staff have only seen redacted results, and subpostmaster and employee “verbatim feedback is being withheld.” The whistleblowers called for intervention and an investigation.
Inner circle
The letter also outlines how senior employees that it describes as part of Read’s “inner circle” are receiving beneficial treatment. This includes, they say, paid time off and expensive legal support for their evidence to the public inquiry.
The letter also raises concerns about the number of individuals at the Post Office who have been in long-term jobs with conflicts of interest: “They were operating in roles which to a greater or lesser degree were involved in the wrongful prosecution of subpostmasters.” The letter states there are about 120 such individuals and that “Nick Read refuses to address the situation proactively, despite being asked to.”
The public inquiry is in its seventh phase, focused on current practice and procedures at the Post Office and recommendations for the future. There have already been highly damaging revelations about its ongoing project to replace the controversial Horizon system from Fujitsu, as well as details of an internal investigation into a senior executive who was suspended because they allegedly instructed staff to “destroy or conceal” evidence that might be of interest to the inquiry.
Computer Weekly has contacted the Post Office for comment.
The Post Office scandal was first exposed by Computer Weekly in 2009, revealing the stories of seven subpostmasters and the problems they suffered due to Horizon accounting software, which led to the most widespread miscarriage of justice in British history (see below timeline of Computer Weekly articles about the scandal since 2009).
• Also read: What you need to know about the Horizon scandal •
• Also watch: ITV’s documentary – Mr Bates vs The Post Office: The real story •
• Also read: Post Office and Fujitsu malevolence and incompetence means huge taxpayers’ bill •
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