Graham Stuart, MP for Beverley & Holderness, welcomed an interim report prepared by independent investigators, Second Sight, into a series of cases involving Sub Postmasters, the Horizon accounting system, and Post Office work processes.
Graham said: “I have heard from several Sub-Postmasters who believe Horizon is to blame for accounting errors which the Post Office forced them to pay back personally. If the losses aren’t repaid the Post Office can prosecute the Sub-Postmaster for false accounting”.
“I have grave concerns about Horizon as it seems there are numerous ways in which mistakes could occur, and not all of them would be the Sub-Postmaster’s fault. Following pressure from me and other MPs the Post Office was pushed into commissioning this independent report.
The issues highlighted in the report include:
· The way the Post Office has previously investigated concerns
· Instances of unreliable hardware
· Processes for training and support that have been found to be inadequate
· The overly-complicated nature of the Horizon system
· A business model which might be seen as unfair towards the Sub-Postmaster in that any faults or issues with the system give rise to a liability on the Sub- Postmaster rather than being a risk to be carried by the Post Office
· Issues around cash balances in the back-office accounting system
The Post Office has proposed three solutions to these problems:
The creation of a working party to work collaboratively to complete the review of cases already under investigation by Second Sight
A review chaired by an independent figure to determine how an independent safety net might be introduced to adjudicate future disputed cases
A new Branch User Forum to provide a way for Sub-Postmasters and others to raise issues around business processes, training, and support
Graham said “Sub-Post Offices are at the heart of our communities providing many much-needed services and the last thing we want is people not coming forward for this important work because they don’t feel the Post Office would deal with them in a just and fair manner. I welcome this report – as a step along the way in getting to the bottom of Horizon’s reliability.”