UK Post Office Scandal

Did not know that we were getting an inquiry. /scurries off to get popcorn
 
Summary:

The UKPO hired a software vendor to automate their systems nation-wide
It was not properly tested and made mistakes
PO staff complained and were told by management there was nothing wrong
Frequently, the software mis-calculated the earnings from individual POs
The PO staff were made to personally pay for the fictitious missing earnings
Still management said there was nothing wrong
PO staff who could not pay were sent to jail
Some committed suicide
Eventually a newspaper report revealed the shortcomings of the system
It took 3 years for this to enter the heads of PO management
They stopped using it, but didn't refund the employees who had been made to pay
The CEO of the PO resigned but would not admit culpability
The PM (Rushi Sunak) promised to compensate PO employees and reverse prison sentences
This is proceeding, but at a snails pace
 
chrisc said:
Summary:

The UKPO hired a software vendor to automate their systems nation-wide
It was not properly tested and made mistakes
PO staff complained and were told by management there was nothing wrong
Frequently, the software mis-calculated the earnings from individual POs
The PO staff were made to personally pay for the fictitious missing earnings
Still management said there was nothing wrong
PO staff who could not pay were sent to jail
Some committed suicide
Eventually a newspaper report revealed the shortcomings of the system
It took 3 years for this to enter the heads of PO management
They stopped using it, but didn't refund the employees who had been made to pay
The CEO of the PO resigned but would not admit culpability
The PM (Rushi Sunak) promised to compensate PO employees and reverse prison sentences
This is proceeding, but at a snails pace
Click to expand...

"staff complained and were told by management there was nothing wrong"

Lol, got the same management hiccups. Told them about system errors and I was told I don't get paid to report system errors. Few weeks down the line they found the system made huge mistakes and had to cancel the whole operation.

Sometimes management is a bunch of dmb cnts.
 
My UK cousin ran a sub-post office until 2002. She sold the business to Mrs Ali. In 2013 the PO introduced this billing system

The very first week she ran the old system in parallel with the new Horizon system. The difference in gross takings was £111.45. She went over the till receipts with her husband who is an accountant and saw that the last sale of each day had been recorded twice. So 6 days of counter sales. Each last transaction of the day was always duplicated, even though it had not taken place

The central reporting office insisted their figure was correct. The following month she visited the PO's accounting office in Birmingham with the printout from her original computer showing the date, time and amount of counter sales and this recurring daily error

The PO's response was to cancel her sub-post office licence. She took them to the Office of Fair Trading who instructed the PO to pay her £3800. The PO never paid and kept telling her they disputed the error

In 2023 she received £15 050.00 in compensation but had to sign a waiver of non-responsibilty
 
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This UK PO mess illustrates the divide between senior management and the staff who do the work

Despite receiving thousands of complaints and a surge in what they thought were fraud by PO staff, some of whom had been operating for 35 years, no-one bothered to find out the reason for this apparent sudden spate of alleged fraud, all operated in the same way

Even at the Parlimentary Enquiry, the CEO, Paula Vennels insisted that there was nothing wrong. She came across as arrogant and uncaring and pretended not to know about the covert operation team and the Horizon system malfunction
 
The mass exoneration of wrongfully convicted Post Office managers caught up in the Horizon IT scandal has come a step closer in the UK after MPs passed the third stage of a government bill.

The latest stage of the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill passed unopposed last night as part of the government's plans to quash convictions and pay compensation to those affected by the controversial computer system.

Horizon is an EPOS and backend finance system for thousands of Post Office branches around the UK, first implemented by ICL, a UK technology company later bought by Fujitsu. From 1999 until 2015, 736 local branch managers were wrongfully convicted of fraud when errors in the system were to blame.

In December 2020, six former subpostmasters wrongfully prosecuted by the Post Office had their names formally cleared after the Court of Appeal quashed their criminal convictions. In April 2021, 39 further convictions were quashed, but many more cases, and the state of compensation, remain unresolved.

The new government legislation seeks to exonerate those convicted in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland after the Horizon software caused the impression money was missing at their branches.

Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch told MPs: "For the postmasters wrongly accused of, convicted, and punished for crimes they never committed, this bill means hard-won exoneration with their convictions wiped clean from the slate. A wrong is finally being put right."

She said postmasters would also receive compensation through the Horizon Conviction Redress Scheme, set to be run by the Department for Business and Trade.

However, she said the government wanted to avoid setting a precedent. "We have chosen this path because the sheer extent of the Post Office's prosecutorial misconduct is an affront to justice in and of itself. It demanded an exceptional response from the government."

Meanwhile, the public inquiry into the scandal, which Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said was one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in British history, continues.

Last week, the inquiry heard how former Post Office CEO Paula Vennells blocked efforts to end prosecution of sub-postmasters. Speaking at the inquiry, Chris Aujard, a former Post Office lawyer, said the organization's executive committee was "in favor of ceasing prosecutions entirely" in 2013. However, Vennells said she advocated "limited prosecutorial activity."

After handing back a state honor following a TV drama detailing the scandal, Vennells apologized for "the devastation caused to the subpostmasters and their families," but reserved further comment until the completion of the inquiry.

The Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill is now set to pass through the House of Lords, the UK's second chamber.
 
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