Former Post Office (PO) chairman Henry Staunton has claimed the company’s current boss, Nick Read, was set to leave over a pay dispute.
Staunton revealed the claim at a hearing covering compensation payouts to Horizon scandal victims on 27 February.
The government has said it will exonerate and compensate victims of the scandal following public outrage sparked by ITV’s drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, depicting the fight for justice by more than 700 postmasters after they were wrongly prosecuted based on information from Horizon, a faulty accounting system.
In response to the allegations on Read, the PO acknowledged there were complaints against Read alongside other members of staff in a note to all PO colleagues, and the boss “never tendered his resignation”.
In the note, Ben Tidswell, senior independent director on the PO board, wrote:
“Some of you may have watched the Select Committee today or seen press reports about it. Accordingly, I wanted to write to you to deal with some of the allegations made by the former chairman.
“Like many of you, I know that Nick Read has at times felt the weight of Post Office’s awful history on his shoulders. It is no surprise, and is entirely appropriate, that he will have discussed this, in confidence, with the former chairman. However, to my knowledge he has never tendered his resignation and he continues to accept leadership responsibility for the challenges that we are all working on each day.
“Post Office has received a complaint against a number of people within the organisation – Nick is one of those employees – and I am sure you will all agree that Post Office should investigate every complaint with due process. Nick accepts this and has cooperated fully with the investigation.
“In spite of the distractions happening around us, the board asks that we all remain focused on supporting the government to bring about faster justice and redress to victims, and helping build a Post Office that supports the postmasters of today.”
“Get on and pay people”
Former postmaster Alan Bates also gave evidence at the hearing, telling MPs the government should “get on and pay people”.
The select committee also heard claims by witnesses that an internal investigation was under way into Staunton over his alleged behaviour while he chaired the company, but Staunton alleged that there was actually an investigation into Read.
The Department for Business and Trade has added that it was aware that Read was also under investigation but it had “not seen the 80-page report referred to by Henry Staunton and cannot attest to the content”.
The prime minister also expressed confidence in Read, with the Rishi Sunak’s deputy spokesperson saying: “We continue to work very closely with him. It’s important at this point that everyone remains focused on ensuring we have the compensation and justice for the postmasters.”
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