plus: Howe and Co meet with BEIS…

Hello everyone

I hope you are keeping well. Apologies for the lack of recent emails. I have been working on the scripts to an investigation on a completely different matter, which I hope will appear on Radio 4 by the end of Feb.

That investigation is now back in the hands of the excellent team at Whistledown (who made the Great Post Office Trial series with me for the BBC), so I can focus on Post Office Related Matters for a bit.

Counting the pennies

Although well-informed people with experience of the issues have speculated the bill for sorting the Horizon scandal would hit £1bn, we didn’t get confirmation of that until now.

Without telling parliament or the BEIS Select Committee specifically convened to discuss compensation, the government quietly published a document stating it was making £685m available to the Post Office to compensate Subpostmasters. That tips this disaster over the £1bn mark. Read the breakdown here.

Say Howe

I’ve also seen a report of the meeting between Howe and Co (who represent 146 Subpostmaster) and government officials which happened on Wednesday. A full write-up of that can be found here.

I remain deeply grateful to the sources who continue to send me information. Neither of the above stories would have been possible without those in the know emailing me documents or tipping me off. If you are connected to this scandal and have information which you think would be of use, please pass it on. Complete discretion is assured.

Last week I wrote a blog post on what happened at the BEIS Select Committee inquiry and then failed to send the secret email telling you about it, which was sitting ready to go in my drafts file.

The biggest surprise to me was hearing Nick Read declare all 736 convictions between 2000 and 2013 as “unsafe”, but Karl Flinders from Computer Weekly picked out something else – the Post Office does not have full records of how much money it has taken from Subpostmasters down the years.

It claims to have just lost large chunks of vital accounting information. Nick Read, the Post Office CEO, seemed to acknowledge the cash was taken from Subpostmasters, put into suspense and then cleared into the Post Office’s profit and loss account.

This goes back to what Ron Warmington from Second Sight said in December 2019 and the constant refrain from many newcomers to this scandal – where has all the money gone?

It’s a good question. Given that the Post Office now by its own admission appears to have propped up its bottom line by unlawfully taking millions of pounds from its own agents businesses and savings, I can’t help wondering if a crime was committed by the Post Office here – and if so, who should be investigated and what for. Answers on a postcard to Inspector Knacker, or even the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry. Speaking of which…

Get it off your chest

If you were affected by the Horizon scandal in an adverse way, here is your chance to tell the Inquiry about it. The impact sessions will take place in February and March, and you can either offer written testimony, or join a remote focus group or both.

Full details are here.

This is the opportunity to put on the record the damage done to you by the Post Office. It will stay as a lasting testament to this scandal and I would urge as many people as possible to take part.

It is only by those directly affected explaining the true horror of what happened to them that other people not connected with this scandal will understand it.

Furthermore if you do believe representatives of the Post Office were engaged in unlawful and/or deceitful behaviour (eg telling you you were the only one having problems with Horizon), this is a forum where it could make a difference.

In our Prime

For the first time since it was launched The Great Post Office Scandal is now available on Amazon Prime. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to leave what is now more than 100 reviews and ratings on the Amazon website. The book still has 4.9 out of 5 stars, which is amazing, frankly, especially seeing as the 1-star review which caused the perfect score to slip reads like a 5-star review, suggesting someone either pressed the wrong button or is very hard to please.

I am so sorry about the delays to many secret emailers who had hoped to receive their books before Christmas. We reckon a combination of things (not least our publisher’s distribution firm being locked out of its own warehouse) has cost thousands in lost sales.

Nonetheless, we have still been able to raise more than £6000 from book sales (plus a further £4000 in other donations) for the Horizon Scandal Fund, and we’ve just had our first enquiry for a grant.

If you know anyone suffering as a result of the Horizon scandal who might be looking to fund something which might help – counselling, forensic accountancy fees, first legal meeting, therapy (including social events), please do point them towards the Fund’s website. All applications will be treated in the strictest confidence, as you would expect.

I am hoping to bring you more news on our fund’s money raising and dispensing activities as 2022 progresses.

Podcast ago-go

A number of people have very kindly invited me to take part in their podcasts in recent weeks. These things take time to turn around and publish, so they’ll no doubt be appearing in dribs and drabs over the next few weeks.

First out of the blocks is the Human Risk podcast by Christian Hunt which is about people within organisations “doing things they shouldn’t or not doing things they should” and how to try to start putting that right. Christian was a lovely host and asked lots of pertinent questions, many of which I wasn’t qualified to answer, but had a stab at anyway, because I’m an idiot.

Beyond the pale ale

There was a joint leaving do at the pub opposite 5 News last night. Two of my favourite colleagues were moving on. An event like that would normally mean emerging a little blearily into the weekend. Not so today – your newsletter this morning is sponsored by Dry January.

Have a good weekend!

Nick

The Post Office Horizon scandal is available for £25 as a hardback and £8.99 for an ebook (or £30 for both) from Bath Publishing. Please click here to buy it. Alternatively, please do forward this email to a friend. Everyone who buys a copy of the book through Bath Publishing will automatically be invited to join the “secret” email list.