Post Office bosses told to repay mistaken bonuses

Post Office bosses have been asked to repay bonuses wrongly paid for completing an inquiry into a scandal that saw hundreds unfairly prosecuted.

Hundreds of sub-postmasters were convicted due to accounting errors caused by the faulty Horizon IT system.

The Post Office annual report incorrectly said the inquiry chairman had approved the payments.

Business select committee chair Darren Jones said all the inquiry-related bonuses should be returned.

Post Office chief executive Nick Read apologised to MPs on the Business and Trade Select Committee for the error, explaining that the inquiry was originally intended to take just four months.

It then became a statutory inquiry which would take far longer, and would not be completed in time to trigger the bonuses.

Members of the Post Office's remuneration committee, which oversees bonuses, used their discretion to pay the bonuses anyway after debating "long and hard", its former chair Lisa Harrington told MPs.

She said a report from an independent law firm was enough to give them "confidence the inquiry was being supported".

'It was a mistake'

However, the reasons for awarding the bonuses were not recorded in the minutes, a fact which current remuneration committee chair Amanda Burton described as "extremely unfortunate".

And when the Post Office's annual report for 2021-22 was published, it said the target of finishing the inquiry had been "achieved" with "confirmation from Sir Wyn Williams," the inquiry chairman - which was wrong.

"Nobody picked up on the wording needing to be updated," Ms Harrington said.

It was "baffling" how so many people missed it, Post Office chairman Henry Staunton said.

Business committee chair Darren Jones asked: "Many of the victims of the scandal will be looking today and hearing your apologies and saying they weren't allowed to apologise for something that turned out to not be their fault, what are the consequences for any of you?"

Chief executive Nick Read replied: "I do think it was a mistake, I don't think there was anything dishonest."

Former sub-postmaster Chris Trousdale was just 19 when he was convicted for accounting irregularities at his post office in the Yorkshire village of Lealholm. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the ordeal.

After watching the select committee testimony, he said: "I think the bonus payments are just part of a wider culture. We need independent bodies to step in and look at these things. It's mindboggling.

"And the trauma and the added distress that is being added on to the victims when they watch things like this is incomprehensible. It is really difficult to listen to."

Mr Read said that 30 out of 34 managers had returned the portion of their bonuses awarded for meeting the target of "inquiry support", which is one of four inquiry-related targets. He personally had paid back £7,000, equivalent to £13,600 before tax and National Insurance, out of a bonus package worth £455,000, he said.

Mr Jones said he felt that this was not sufficient, and called on managers to repay the entire portion of their bonuses that related to the Horizon Inquiry.