Post Office chief executive Nick Read is stepping back from the role temporarily to prepare for the next stage of the Horizon scandal inquiry, the company has announced.
Mr Read, who succeeded the heavily-criticised Paula Vennells after she stepped down in 2019, told staff in a note that he wanted to give his “entire attention” to the stage of the hearings in September that will examine current practice at the Post Office.
The company declined to say, in response to a question from Sky News, whether the seven-week period would include time for a summer holiday, citing it as a personal matter.
His deputy, Owen Woodley, would run the day-to-day business from Monday 15 July until the end of August, Post Office said.
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Mr Read’s note, first reported by the Post Office scandal-focused journalist Nick Wallis, said of his decision: “It is vitally important that we demonstrate the changes we have made and give confidence to the inquiry and the country at large that ‘nothing like this could happen again’.”
Between 1999 and 2015, more than 700 sub-postmasters were prosecuted on charges such as theft and false accounting after faulty accounting software provided by Fujitsu made it seem like money was missing from their branches.
While the sub-postmasters’ convictions have been overturned, many are still struggling to secure full compensation under processes aimed at speeding up final redress.
The inquiry has heard repeated denials of a cover-up from key figures including executives and lawyers.
Among the witnesses was Mr Read’s predecessor, who handed back her CBE – awarded in 2019 for “services to the Post Office and charity” – amid public anger over the scandal following the screening of the ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office.
Ms Vennells told the inquiry she had been too trusting of individuals involved in handling growing questions over past prosecutions, admitting it amounted to a “lost decade” in identifying the miscarriages of justice.
Mr Read’s tenure has been dominated by the fallout amid efforts to restore confidence in the Post Office.
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The business and trade committee of MPs expressed a lack of confidence in his leadership following an evidence hearing in February this year, accusing him of giving misleading evidence on at least two occasions.
He denied claims made by former colleague Henry Staunton in front of the MPs that he had threatened to resign several times unless his pay was improved.
It later emerged he had been “exonerated” of internal bullying claims made against him – allegations he had always denied.
A Post Office spokesperson said of Mr Read’s decision: “Appropriate preparation ahead of a corporate witness statement is important and enables the business to best support the Inquiry’s vital work.
“We are fortunate to have a strong senior executive group that ensures the business is well placed to support postmasters over the busy summer trading period.”
Document outlines concerns about Vennells
Meanwhile, the inquiry has heard how a government official wrote in a 2016 email that there’s “something Teflon” about Ms Vennells.
Teflon is used to describe someone who manages to keep a good reputation even after they have done something wrong.
Giving evidence to the inquiry, Richard Callard, a UK government investments official, said his comments referred to how Ms Vennells was “oblivious to the fact that there’s a conversation going on in the department about a failed procurement that’s going to cost some money”.
The inquiry also heard concerns were raised about Ms Vennells in 2014 as having a “lack of general grip” on the business.
Paula Vennells arrives to give evidence to the inquiry in May
Mr Callard said concerns had been “growing” about her leadership for some time.
A document shown to the inquiry detailed criticism of Ms Vennells and posed the question: “Why are we paying her big bucks if she isn’t performing?”
Mr Callard also admitted that he was “guilty of a lack of curiosity” when it came to issues with Horizon, and was challenged on an email he sent describing issues with their software as “a smoking gun that does not exist”.
The government official defended his turn of phrase as referring to the fact he said he had not heard of any “specific problem with Horizon that caused losses to sub-postmasters”.
When asked if his words suggest he had “formed a view that there would be no smoking gun found”, he replied: “I think by that time I probably had, at least on the balance of probabilities, that is the view I had taken.”
