Subpostmasters living years with disputed but unresolved debts to the Post Office, inquiry told

[TrueBlueTerrier]

https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366 ... quiry-told

Continued errors with the Horizon system mean subpostmasters have unresolved account shortfalls hanging over them for years

Subpostmasters are operating with disputed but unresolved debts to the Post Office hanging over them as they continue to experience unexplained account shortfalls, subpostmaster federation boss told public inquiry.

During the latest hearing in the seventh and last phase of the Post Office Horizon scandal public inquiry, National Federation of Subpostmasters (NFSP) CEO Callum Greenhow described how the Post Office is still acting as judge, jury and executioner in relation to unexplained branch shortfalls.

“Subpostmasters are still explaining that they are experiencing losses – they receive a letter which is not a demand for money, but is [saying], ‘You’ve got a debt’. We need to be in a position where the Post Office are able to bring that to an open and transparent conclusion rather than just going on and on. Some of these cases have been outstanding for years because they can’t be brought to a conclusion,” he told the inquiry.

The latest evidence follows the results of a survey of more than 1,000 current subpostmasters found that over half are experiencing unexplained accounting shortfalls on the controversial Horizon IT system used in branches.

According to the survey, commissioned by the public inquiry and carried out by YouGov, 57% of current subpostmasters have experienced unexplained shortfalls, including 19% reporting unexplained transactions, and 14% having had transactions go missing.

A total of 69% of surveyed subpostmasters have experienced an unexplained discrepancy on the Horizon system since January 2020. Three-quarters said they have used their own branch money to cover discrepancies or resolved the issue themselves.

The survey commissioned by the public inquiry also found that nearly half (48%) were dissatisfied with how the discrepancies were resolved, compared with 19% who were satisfied.

Nearly half (49%) of more than 1,000 respondent subpostmasters said they are dissatisfied with how the Horizon IT system currently operates, with 25% “very dissatisfied”.

Greenhow said the NFSP has requested the government take “an in-depth look” at hardware, software, telecommunications, processes, and the practices of Fujitsu and the Post Office.

“But there is a reluctance to do that because there is a belief within the Post Office that Horizon is robust,” said Greenhow. “In a conversations with officials in the Department of Business and Trade, I was told the Post Office is telling them Horizon is robust.”

During the hearing, Greenhow repeated his accusation that Nick Read and other senior executives misled him and other subpostmasters in a discussion about Horizon’s replacement platform being built in-house by the Post Office, called New Branch IT (NBIT).

He added that the “Post Office is unable to act in the right manner” and that it “still sees subpostmasters as guilty unless proven otherwise”.

As revealed by Computer Weekly in May this year, Greenhow said he and other subpostmasters were misled about progress of NBIT. He said Post Office executives claimed they was satisfied with the progress of NBIT, but the very next day, Computer Weekly revealed the project required £1bn funding and had been labelled “unachievable” by government auditors.

He said the NFSP is not being given the information it wants in relation to the NBIT programme, with the Post Office’s head of IT failing to attend update meetings with the group.

[NWpostie]

We could be looking at another scandal in the making that will take years to resolve.

The best thing to do is to close your sub office and go back to being a shop apparently the profitability of them is going down anyway and those thinking of taking up a sub office franchise should reconsider.