The chief executive of the Post Office has told staff he’s stepping back so he can “give my entire attention” to the Horizon enquiry.
In a note to staff today, Nick Read said the organisation was now entering a “critical phase” of the enquiry in September, and amid a strategic review of the organisation.
This comes as the embattled Post Office prepares for Phase 7 of a major enquiry into its operations, with the latest probe beginning in September, and looking at its current operations.
The Post Office has been dogged by the Horizon scandal, in which subpostmasters were wrongfully convicted of fraud due to a faulty accounting system.
The issue came to the fore once more earlier this year through an ITV documentary focusing on campaigner Sir Alan Bates. More than 700 were wrongly convicted between the mid-1990s and 2015, with some dying before having convictions overturned, and others tragically committing suicide.
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Post Office cratered from UK’s sixth most trusted finance brand to 135th amid Horizon scandal
Read said it was “vitally important” that changes he’s made in the organisation can be demonstrated and “give confidence to the inquiry and country at large that ‘nothing like this could happen again’”.
As a result, Read said he and its board “agreed that I should give my entire attention to the task of preparing the business” for the latest stage of the enquiry.
His stepping back means he will hand over the job for the time being to Owen Woodley, the deputy chief, who will become the top boss.
From 15 July the change will be made, with Woodley also overseeing its strategic review. Read said this situation will last until the end of August, for the “next seven weeks”.
Read took over from the previous Post Office boss Paula Vennells, who gave teary testimony to a Parliamentary enquiry recently.
In April Read was “exonerated of all misconduct allegations” in an independent and unseen report.