Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells to hand back CBE

1. Ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells says she'll hand back her CBE "with immediate effect"
2. Vennells was in charge between 2012 and 2019 when the Post Office repeatedly denied there were problems with its IT
3. She says she's "truly sorry for the devastation" caused to postal workers and their families
4. Meanwhile, the government says it supports "further recognition" of the work by Alan Bates and others who exposed the Horizon scandal
5. Earlier, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said a law to quash the hundreds of convictions was receiving "active consideration"
6. He held talks with judges on Monday to discuss clearing the names of sub-postmasters convicted in the saga
7. However, some have questioned whether a new law is the best option - a mass appeal, or individual appeals, have also been suggested
8. Between 1999 and 2015, the Post Office prosecuted 736 sub-postmasters and mistresses based on information from the faulty Horizon IT system
9. More than 700 branch managers were given criminal convictions - 93 of these convictions have been overturned

That's it from us - thanks for following along

Sam Hancock

Live reporter

It's been another busy day covering the Post Office scandal, with the government saying it's "urgently working on the detail of how to clear the names" of those affected and former Post Office CEO Paula Vennells handing back her CBE.

We've also continued to hear from the people at the heart of this scandal - the hundreds of sub-postmasters and postmistresses who were convicted of false accounting, theft and fraud between 1999 and 2015 because of a faulty accounting system, Horizon.

• If you want to keep reading about today's developments, head to our main news story here
• And if you want to remind yourself what this entire saga is all about, our explainer is here

We'll be back first thing tomorrow to do it all again, so see you then. Today's page was written by Emma Harrison and Jacqueline Howard, and it was edited by Emily Young and me.

How a TV drama turbo charged desire for action

Chris Mason

Political editor

The curious anatomy of a scandal.

A scandal if not hiding, then obscured in plain sight. Concern for the sub-postmasters didn't begin with the TV drama.

A public inquiry into it all, with the capacity to compel witnesses to give evidence, was established two and a half years ago, for instance.

But the drama has turbo charged a desire for action, and speedy action; pace the notable and consistent absentee for two decades in the delivery of justice.

BBC

Jo Hamilton (left), a former sub-postmistress who we mentioned earlier, is portrayed by actress Monica Dolan (right) in the drama

Politicians approach this with a danger lurking: that voters conclude they represent a circular firing squad.

"Postmasters have been failed by governments, certainly," acknowledged the cabinet minister Michael Gove today.

And yes there are questions for Labour, when they were in government, for the Liberal Democrats during the coalition years, and the Conservatives too.

For ministers now there is the incentive of being seen to finally sort all this out. Albeit doing so having been kicked up the backside by four nights of drama on ITV.

A look back at the day's main events

PA Media

We're going to close this page soon but before then, here's a quick rundown of the main events of the day:

• Paula Vennells, the boss of the Post Office at the height of the Horizon scandal, announced that she's handing back her CBE "with immediate effect" - she received the honour for her work at the Post Office
• The prime minister’s official spokesperson said this is “obviously the right decision”
• The government also said it supports “further recognition” of the work by Alan Bates and other sub-postmasters who exposed the Horizon scandal
• Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said a bill to quash hundreds of convictions of sub-postmasters and postmistresses is under "active consideration"
• There are some concerns among legal experts that such a law would have unintended consequences and could amount to government interference in the justice system
• The government says if the public inquiry into the scandal finds fault with the maker of the Horizon software - Fujitsu - it will be "held to account". The company has been invited to take questions from MPs next week

What can be done about the Post Office convictions?

Dominic Casciani

Home and legal correspondent

As I said earlier, the scale of the Post Office scandal means that there are no easy and quick solutions for the government - but here's a look at some of their options.

A Royal Pardon: The King still has the power to grant a pardon - although it is reserved for truly exceptional cases that can't be easily returned to court.

• But it's little more than a symbolic act. It does not quash the criminal conviction, only the Court of Appeal can do that. So some may feel a Royal Pardon does not wash away the stain of criminality.

A one-off law exonerating all: Justice Secretary Alex Chalk has said he's considering this. The "separation of powers" between the courts and Parliament make this difficult, however all of the miscarriages relate to the same simple allegation that the Post Office hid the truth about the Horizon system's flaws - and therefore a one-off Act of Parliament to quash all of the convictions could be justified.

• But there's some concern that it could have unintended consequences - and that risks paving the way for future politicians to do it again - and perhaps next time for their pals.

Speed up existing appeals: The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) sent 42 Post Office cases to judges after an earlier ruling had finally shown the Horizon system was flawed. The Court of Appeal exonerated 39 people in one go. Professor Graham Zellick, the CCRC's former chair, says this "could do the job very quickly".

• But of the 157 Post Office cases the CCRC has looked at, it has rejected 50 applicants. The CCRC applies a controversial and strict legal test which essentially tries to guess what the Court of Appeal will rule - and so its critics say it too often rejects pleas for help.

Read more on all this here.

Fujitsu invited to be quizzed by MPs

We're hearing that Fujitsu - the Japanese technology company that manufactured the faulty Horizon computer system at the centre of the scandal - has been invited to answer questions from MPs next week.

The Business and Trade Select Committee says Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake has confirmed he will attend the evidence session on 16 January.

Alan Bates, the former sub-postmaster who we've mentioned a few times today, has also been invited to attend the committee.

• You can read more about Horizon here

'I'm not the same person as I was before'

BBC

Let's hear now from another former sub-postmistresses who, in 2011, was told by the Post Office there was £14,600 missing from her branch in Wales.

"I told them I didn't have it and I hadn't taken it," Lorraine Williams told the BBC in 2021. "They locked me out of the post office that day, took the keys away from me and suspended me. It was a massive shock."

The Post Office insisted Williams was the only one having issues with the Horizon computer - something many of those convicted have described as happening to them - and she was accused of theft.

On legal advice, Williams pleaded guilty to keeping false accounts in order to avoid going to jail. She was handed a 52-week suspended sentence, on the condition she would "pay back" the £14,600 and perform 200 hours of community service.

Her conviction was eventually quashed in 2021, at which time she said:

I know I'm supposed to be happy now but things are still in the back of my mind. I'm not so happy go lucky as I was before. I'm not the same person.

Someone has to be accountable for this, someone knew."

ITV drama grabbed public's imagination - actor

This long-running story has been thrown back into the spotlight because of ITV's recent four-part mini-series on the scandal.

Mr Bates vs the Post Office centres on the story of sub-postmaster Alan Bates, who led and won a legal battle, paving the way for dozens of convictions to be overturned.

ITV

Alan Bates is played by actor Toby Jones

One of the stars of the show, Julie Hesmondhalgh, told BBC Breakfast earlier that the drama "cut through the facts and figures and the data" to put "real people into people's living rooms".

She added: "There's been really amazing people trying to keep that going for years, but it's never quite grabbed the public imagination in the way that it has.”

A timeline of the Post Office scandal

From 1999 all the way through to this year, here's a rundown of some of the key dates in the Post Office Horizon scandal.

• 1999: The Horizon accounting system is rolled out in Post Offices across the UK
• 2000: The first issue with the system is reported by Alan Bates, sub-postmaster of a branch in Wales
• 2003: Bates loses his job after refusing to accept responsibility for missing funds in the branch accounts
• 2004: More sub-postmasters find themselves being asked questions about missing funds - at times in the tens of thousands of pounds. Jobs are lost, some are declared bankrupt and some eventually sent to prison
• 2010: A high-profile case of wrongful conviction occurs - pregnant Surrey sub-postmaster Seema Misra is jailed after being accused of stealing £74,000
• 2012: Formal investigations into the Horizon software begin
• 2015: The Post Office halts private prosecutions of sub-postmasters
• 2017 Legal action is launched against the Post Office by a group of 555 sub-postmasters
• 2019: Post Office CEO Paula Vennells stands down, before the company agrees to pay £58m to the 555 sub-postmasters
• 2021: The first inquiry into the scandal begins
• 2023: The government announces that every wrongly convicted sub-postmaster will be offered £600,000 in compensation
• 2024: There's a resurgence of interest in the scandal after ITV releases a mini-series titled Mr Bates vs the Post Office

Downing Street says it supports 'further recognition' of Alan Bates

PA Media

Alan Bates (centre) speaking outside London's High Court in March 2019

We're hearing a bit more from Downing Street now.

The prime minister's spokesman says the government would support "further recognition" of the work by sub-postmaster Alan Bates - the focus of ITV's new drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office - to expose the Horizon scandal.

Bates and many others "deserve huge amounts of praise for the tenacity and dedication they have shown in exposing this," No 10 tells reporters. "It's right that is recognised."

The spokesman also says Justice Secretary Alex Chalk's plans to quash the convictions of hundreds of sub-postmasters and postmistresses caught up in the saga were not met by "significant challenges" from judges.

Former Post Office boss 'has given back something she doesn’t deserve'

Our radio colleagues at 5 Live have been hearing from victims of the Post Office scandal, some of who have commented on the news about Paula Vennells.

Rubbina Shaheen, who was given a 12-month jail sentence in 2010 after being wrongfully convicted in the scandal, says she was "happy" when she heard.

“I feel so happy she has given back something she doesn’t deserve," Shaheen tells the BBC. “She should go through what we went [through] to feel the suffering”. Shaheen's conviction was overturned in 2021.

Varchas Patel, whose father Vipin was convicted of fraud in 2011 after being accused of stealing £75,000 from his Post Office branch in Oxford, says similar - that Vennells didn't deserve the award.

"My initial reaction is good, I'm glad," he tells the PA news agency about its return.

Right decision for Vennells to hand back CBE - No 10

There's some more reaction to the Post Office's former boss handing back her CBE, with PM Rishi Sunak's spokesman saying "we think that is obviously the right decision".

"Our focus continues to be on ensuring all those whose lives were torn apart have swifter access to compensation and justice," he adds.

It comes after Paymaster General John Glen similarly welcomed the move by Paula Vennells.

"Holding those accountable for this tragic miscarriage of justice is essential," he says, adding that the move helps to maintain "the integrity of the honours system."

Explained - the role of a postmaster and sub-postmaster

Thomas Mackintosh

Live reporter

For those not familiar with the roles and responsibilities of a postmaster or postmistress, let's take a look.

According to the Post Office, a postmaster or postmistress is the head of an individual post office - usually the main one in a district, town or city.

They are responsible for all postal activities in that specific office, including managing staff and ensuring efficient mail delivery and customer service. It is also "quite common" for people to run more than one Post Office, the organisation says.

Sub-Post Offices are smaller than main ones and serve as branch offices - they provide postal, financial and retail services and are run by sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses.

Sub-postmasters are self-employed and they're approved by the Post Office to act as their agents in running these smaller branches.

Family who ran local Post Offices recall 'sleepless nights'

BBC

Let's hear more now from the people at the heart of all this - the sub-postmasters and postmistresses convicted of false accounting, theft and fraud between 1999 and 2015 because of a faulty accounting system, Horizon.

Anjana and Baljit Sethi used to run two Post Office branches in east London where they raised their three children. They were never charged but forced into bankruptcy when they were asked to cover a £17,000 hole in their accounts.

"They couldn't get a credit card, they got the worst mortgage rate on the market, and then my father had to retrain as a security guard doing night shifts," their son Adeep tells the BBC. His brother Amit says:

You can't get back time, you can't get back the stress, you can't get back those sleepless nights that they've had, but the compensation will help them feel like we were right."

The Sethi family say they're still waiting for some kind of redress from the Post Office.

Vennells joins John Lennon in sending honour back

Callum May

BBC News

PA Media

John Lennon (second left) with his MBE in 1965 - he returned it four years later

Honours of the Order of the British Empire are a prestigious accolade, but on a small number of occasions they are taken away.

If someone is convicted of a serious crime or brings the honours system into disrepute, a group of Whitehall officials and independent members called the Honours Forfeiture Committee recommend to the King that he should remove the honour.

The jockey and tax fraudster Lester Piggott and the former Royal Bank of Scotland boss Fred Goodwin are among those to have lost their honours.

But the King is the only person who can decide whether someone has an honour, or not.

Paula Vennells, former CEO of the Post Office, now joins John Lennon in sending an honour back to Buckingham Palace. The former Beatle returned his MBE in 1969 along with a letter to the Queen protesting against the Biafran war.

Doing so has no formal effect. The government’s honours guidance says someone would “still hold the honour unless or until HM King annulled it - their decision would not be publicised by the Cabinet Office and they would continue to be able to describe themself as holding an honour".

'It's not just about a CBE, this whole thing is disgusting'

We're starting to see some reaction to the news that Paula Vennells, former CEO of the Post Office, will hand back her CBE over ongoing fallout from the Horizon scandal.

Jo Hamilton, a former sub-postmistress, says she's "glad" - but questions why "it took a million people to cripple [Vennells's] conscience". (Hamilton's referring to a petition calling for Vennells to hand back her honour, which reached over a million signatures yesterday.)

"It's not just about her CBE, it's about how disgusting the whole thing is," Hamilton says of the scandal, adding:

We're all sick and tired of people taking money, being paid exorbitant amounts of money, and politicians taking absolutely no notice of you whatsoever ... I think the people are just sick of it."

Hamilton, who was accused of stealing £36,000 from her branch in South Warnborough, Hampshire, had her conviction overturned in 2021.

She spoke to BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour yesterday, which you can watch here:

Exonerated sub-postmistress reacts to making headlines again

What you need to know this afternoon

Ministers say "urgent" work is under way to clear the names of hundreds of sub-postmasters and postmistresses wrongfully convicted in the Post Office Horizon scandal.

Here's a summary of the main happenings today:

• The boss of the Post Office at the height of the scandal, Paula Vennells, is handing back her CBE "with immediate effect". She received the honour for her work at the Post Office
• Justice Secretary Alex Chalk says a bill to quash hundreds of convictions of sub-postmasters is under "active consideration", and he expects to make more announcements soon
• There are some concerns among legal experts that the proposed law would have unintended consequences and could amount to government interference in the justice system
• Two former justice secretaries have voiced their support for such a law - the most recent former justice secretary Sir Robert Buckland said the situation called for an "unprecedented approach"
• The government says if the public inquiry into the scandal finds fault with the maker of the software Horizon - Fujitsu - it will be "held to account"

What is a CBE?

PA Media

All honours come with a corresponding medal

In the last hour, the former Post Office boss has confirmed she's handing back her CBE with immediate effect, apologising for the "devastation" caused by the Horizon IT scandal.

A CBE - Commander of the Order of the British Empire - is one of many awards that can be given in the UK's honours system.

Originally created during World War One to reward services to the war effort, CBEs are now awarded for prominent national or regional roles and to those making distinguished contributions in their own areas.

Vennells received her CBE in 2019 "for services to the Post Office and to charity".

It's worth noting that CBEs can be revoked, but that decision lies with the King.

Paula Vennells - a quick profile

PA Media

Paula Vennells worked for the likes of beauty brand L'Oréal and hospitality business Whitbread before moving to the Post Office in 2007.

She started as a group network director, then became managing director in 2010 before being promoted to the position of CEO in 2012.

Vennells held the top job until February 2019, when she stepped down amid anger over the Horizon scandal. During her tenure, the company repeatedly denied there were problems with its IT system, Horizon.

She took over as chair of the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in April of the same year, but later stepped down when a group of post office operators won a high court case in which their convictions were ruled wrongful and Horizon to be at fault - their ruling was upheld on appeal in 2021.

BreakingVennells statement: 'I'm truly sorry for devastation caused'

"I continue to support and focus on co-operating with the inquiry and expect to be giving evidence in the coming months.

"I have so far maintained my silence as I considered it inappropriate to comment publicly while the inquiry remains ongoing and before I have provided my oral evidence. I am, however, aware of the calls from sub-postmasters and others to return my CBE.

"I have listened and I confirm that I return my CBE with immediate effect.

"I am truly sorry for the devastation caused to the sub-postmasters and their families, whose lives were torn apart by being wrongly accused and wrongly prosecuted as a result of the Horizon system.

"I now intend to continue to focus on assisting the inquiry and will not make any further public comment until it has concluded."

BreakingFormer Post Office boss Paula Vennells to hand back CBE

Getty Images

A bit more breaking news for you now.

Paula Vennells, the former CEO of the Post Office, has said she will hand back her CBE with immediate effect.

It comes after a petition calling for her to do so reached more than a million signatures on Monday.