Yesterday it was announced by the Postal Minister Paul Scully that Post Office Ltd would require government intervention in order to meet the expected payouts within the new Historical Shortfall scheme. The minister said :-
'The scheme closed in August 2020 and received over 2400 applications. This number was higher than the Post Office had anticipated when the scheme was established. All of the applications of course need to be properly assessed. The Post Office is committed to the successful delivery and timely completion of the Historical Shortfall scheme. However, the cost of the scheme is beyond what the business can afford. The government will therefore provide sufficient financial support to the Post Office to ensure that the scheme can proceed, based on current expectations of the likely cost. The BEIS Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is providing this support in his capacity as the sole shareholder in the Post Office'.
You can read the full statement here :-
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2021-03-18/hcws853
The Daily Mail and Computer Weekly produced articles this week in much more detail and Tony Collins blogger at UK Campaign 4 Change has written a hard hitting piece that is in my view a very important read. See below for links :-
Computer Weekly - https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252498087/Government-to-bail-out-Post-Office-which-cant-afford-to-pay-compensation-to-subpostmasters
Tony Collins - https://ukcampaign4change.com/2021/03/18/the-post-office-goes-into-the-21st-year-of-it-related-disputes-with-a-fresh-dispute/
There are a few things to note here. First off this means that the Post Office would be essentially bankrupt if it did not receive the financial support from the government to complete this scheme, all because it decided to try bury the truth and spent well over £100 million pounds in legal fees during the litigation attempting to defeat the claimants. The Post Office is also selling off its telecoms business to Shell Energy for £100 million in order to cover this expense. The second point to note is that the government have always insisted that Post Office runs as an Arms Length Body and has no direct day to day involvement from the government even though a member of UKGI (UK Government and Investments), the only shareholder in Post Office Ltd which is owned by BEIS sits on the Post Office board and via FOI (freedom of information) requests, attended the majority of board meetings. So in reality Post Office does not run as an ALB as previously stated over the last decade through parliamentary inquires and committee hearings. Thirdly as the claimants in the litigation are not allowed under the settlement to take part in this Historical Shortfall scheme, it has been revealed that those who do take part in this scheme will now receive significantly more compensation than those who exposed the Post Office in court. We are effectively paying for this scheme. They will use our judgement in order to negotiate fair settlements for their losses without having to pay for litigation or legal fees. This is in our eyes is simply not acceptable. If justice is to be served for the biggest miscarriage of justice in UK history then every victim must be treated fairly and equally and have their claim validated under the same terms of the Historical Shortfall scheme. Obviously whatever they have received to date would need to be deducted from the amount suggested they are to receive under the scheme.
I have written today to both the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Kwasi Kwarteng and junior Postal Minister Paul Scully to put this message firmly across. The longer they drag this out, the longer victims suffer and the more money the government wastes on legal fees, advisors and its whitewash review. This money could be used to fairly compensate victims and bring to an end this entire scandal. I have also suggested what I believe to be a much fairer way of funding this compensation rather than placing the burden on the taxpayer when it is Post Office ultimately responsible for this mess and the government for not keeping them under control.
We are talking 250-300 million pounds (for the 555 claimants - significantly more if we include the 2400 applications into the new scheme). It is less than 1% of the entire amount spent on the Covid-19 pandemic to date. My solution being that would neither cost the government nor the UK taxpayer for the failures of Post Office Ltd. It would be seen in a favourable light the government doing the right thing, which is what they are effectively elected to do….the ‘Peoples Party’ as they were once known. We now know Post Office Ltd cannot handle the Historical Shortfall scheme out of their current accounts. However for the claimants still awaiting full restitution, the government could force Post Office or BEIS to settle the claims in full to put every victim back in the position they were in prior to this scandal taking place. A sum of money could be issued as a loan (mortgage / similar to a bounce back loan) or whatever you want to call it with an interest rate above the current base rate (similar to a house mortgage of 3-4%) over a 20-30 year period (or longer) that the Post Office must pay back monthly/annually until it is repaid in full (secured against the 1.5 billion in assets or products they own). This loan can be re-negotiated as needed to extend the term beyond its agreed period depending on business performance and cash flow. This would mean each year out of its profits Post Office would be repaying this compensation loan, generating a positive return for the government (its sole shareholder) and ultimately the taxpayer. The profits from this loan could be pumped back into the retail sector, high streets or whatever community project the government sees fit. That way this scandal is put to bed once and for all, the government has done the right thing, victims get to move on with their lives and the taxpayer does not foot the bill. Surely this has to be seen as a positive party action that would also be a vote winner! I do not understand what is so difficult to put this mess right, all the facts and evidence have been proved; they are just helping prolong the pain for all the victims and their families. The government and/or Post Office Ltd could also make a counter claim against Fujitsu if they so wish. for the IT system they purchased for a colossal amount of money back in 1999, a system Fujitsu knew was flawed as exposed in my previous blog. This money would contribute to servicing the loan provided to the Post Office Ltd by the government.
Let us end on a little bit of good news. Angela Van Den Bogerd who was the most senior director from the Post Office to give evidence in the High Court case and was found to have deliberately misled the judge on two occasions with her evidence. Unbelievably she landed a job at the Welsh FA last year which drew serious criticism from MP's and the public has been forced out with immediate effect. Judge Fraser said in his judgement: “There were two specific matters where [Van den Bogerd] did not give me frank evidence, and sought to obfuscate matters and mislead me.” The Welsh FA CEO was ousted not long before, after a vote of no confidence based on his decision to appoint Van Den Bogerd in the first place and this made her position untenable. According to BBC Wales, Van den Bogerd will leave after FAW’s ruling council voted to recommend terminating the employment of Van den Bogerd at a recent meeting.
I will be writing a new blog prior to the Court of Appeal hearings next week where 43 of the victims who were prosecuted and jailed will attempt to have their convictions overturned. Nick Wallis our number one journalist for this scandal will be live tweeting the hearing on his twitter feed @nickwallis and a write-up will go on his site postofficetrial.com
If you would like to contribute to his crowdfunding to cover the Court of Appeal hearings I will include details on Sunday's blog. Nick has also signed a deal with a publisher to release a book of this entire Post Office Scandal and it will be ready for purchase in the coming months (I believe around April/May). It will be available as an e-book or a proper old fashioned hard back edition. I know this book with Nick's experience will be a fantastic read and hopefully become a UK number one top seller! You can contribute to his crowdfunding and have the book included, just contribute to the crowdfunding on its own or await the release of the book and purchase it directly. I will let you know further details closer to the time.
Enjoy the weekend and stay safe!