Post Office (PO) chief executive Nick Read will step down from the role on 15 March 2025, the company has revealed.

Read temporarily stepped back from the role in July in order to prepare for the next stage of the Horizon scandal inquiry.

Read said: “It has been a great privilege to work with colleagues and postmasters during the past five years in what has been an extraordinarily challenging time for the business and for postmasters.

“There remains much to be done for this great UK insititution but the journey to reset the relationship with postmasters is well under way and our work to support justice and redress for postmasters will continue.”

In an email addressed to colleagues, Read said he had been discussing he had been discussing the plans with new chair Nigel Railton since May 2024.

“It is clear that the execution of the strategic review will require a three to five year commitment…it feels like the right time for a leadership transition. It is a natural time to initiate change. I have steered the business to the end of the formal evidence gathering phases of the Inquiry.

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“We will have conducted our strategic review and spending review and we will have made significant progress with redress. I feel I can now pass the baton on to a new team and of course I will be working with them to ensure a smooth handover. The combination of our new chair, and strong additions to our SEG, as well as the expected conclusion of Sir Wyn’s work, has allowed Nigel and I to think beyond the day-to-day needs of the Post Office. We will announce the process for the appointment of a new CEO shortly.

Read took the role on in 2019 from former boss Paula Vennells.

Railton said: “On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Nick for his commitment and hard work in leading the business over the past five years. It has been a challenging period for the Post Office and its Postmasters, and Nick has been instrumental in navigating the business through this while beginning the important process of cultural change. We wish him all the best for his future endeavours.”

PO has said it will announce the process for the appointment of a new group CEO ‘in due course’ and Neil Brocklehurst is to step up as acting CEO, as per request by the Board, in the intervening period.

Brocklehurst will ‘manage the business on a day-to-day basis’ while Read is focused on the Inquiry, PO added.

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