June 2015
June 2015
Following the recent treatment of the Applicants to the Initial Complaint & Mediation Scheme (ICAMS) by Post Office Limited, JFSA has been left with no other option but to recommended to all those involved that they should notify Post Office that they wish to suspend their involvement in the Scheme until further notice. The reason for this request is that until the new Government and the Post Office Minister has had the opportunity to review the Mediation process, and until each Applicant has had an opportunity to discuss their position with their Member of Parliament, that no purpose would presently be served by contiuining with the Scheme at present.
JFSA wrote the following to the new Minister on 19th May 2015:
Following the recent treatment of the Applicants to the Initial Complaint & Mediation Scheme (ICAMS) by Post Office Limited, JFSA has been left with no other option but to recommended to all those involved that they should notify Post Office that they wish to suspend their involvement in the Scheme until further notice. The reason for this request is that until the new Government and the Post Office Minister has had the opportunity to review the Mediation process, and until each Applicant has had an opportunity to discuss their position with their Member of Parliament, that no purpose would presently be served by contiuining with the Scheme at present.
JFSA wrote the following to the new Minister on 19th May 2015:
"I am writing to you, the Minister responsible for Post Office, on behalf of our group, the Justice For Subpostmasters Alliance, to request a meeting with you at your earliest convenience.
"We have been campaigning for years to try and obtain justice for all who have suffered and are still suffering from the abuse inflicted upon Subpostmasters as a result of the introduction of the Horizon computer system by Post Office. With the aid of a growing number of MPs, this matter has been discussed in Westminster over the past few years, the last time being the BIS Committee evidence session on the 3rd February 2015. In the past I have written to the predecessors of your current office, who have responded with varying degrees of concern, so your department should have considerable information about this issue, although I fear in recent years it has only echoed Post Office’s position. However I do believe it is important that you are presented first-hand with the issues from the victims perspective, hence the request to meet with you. I am sure you will be told that a scheme was set up by Post Office a few years ago to address this matter (the Initial Complaint Review & Mediation Scheme), and that a firm of independent forensic investigators (Second Sight) had been engaged by Post Office to examine the concerns of the individuals. The Scheme was overseen by a Working Group comprising of representatives of Post Office, JFSA, Second Sight and Sir Anthony Hooper who was engaged as Chairman. While the Scheme began with the aims of finding the truth, Post Office shortly afterwards changed direction and went into denial and defence of their brand at any cost using exorbitant amounts of public money on lawyers to bolster their position. Without any doubt at all, the recent report by the independent investigators was so damning of Post Office’s actions that Post Office disbanded the Working Group, got rid of the Chairman and publically announced the Working Group had completed its work (which is utter nonsense). Furthermore, Post Office spent even more money on lawyers having them write a report, twice as long as the investigators report, in an effort to twist the truth of this independent work produced by the firm they themselves had selected. This 93 page Post Office ‘report’ has absolutely no merit and it is only the independent report that has any standing, as it is, independent. The Scheme has been so badly abused by Post Office that it is no longer fit for purpose, and last week JFSA had to write to its members in the Scheme to suggest that they now withdraw until such time as an independently run, transparent and honest scheme is in operation. It is obvious to everyone involved, other than Post Office, that the only way the truth is going to come out about the way Post Office has behaved, is when Post Office itself is subject to an independent investigation. This is the goal that we will now be asking for political support to achieve, as until that happens, Post Office will continue its programme of denial and its abuse of Subpostmasters both past and present, and very soon every MP will have at least one constituent who would have suffered at the hands of Post Office. Whilst it is important that we meet with you to discuss this matter in more detail, we would ask you to consider inviting the firm of independent investigators, Second Sight, who we understand are amongst the world leaders in this type of work, to meet with you to give their honest assessment of the situation without Post Office or JFSA being present. It should be remembered that Second Sight was Post Office’s choice and it took considerable work by both Second Sight and James Arbuthnot, who was then the MP for North East Hampshire and chairing the MP group on this issue, to convince JFSA of Second Sight’s independence having been a Post Office appointment at the start of the Scheme. The meeting with Second Sight is really of some urgency, as contractually they are obliged to hand over all data from their investigations to Post Office in matter of a few weeks. JFSA is concerned that once Post Office has the only copy of all the data, it could be lost, misplaced, accidently destroyed, suffer from fire or flood damage, all of which seems to have happened to a number of crucial documents during the term of the investigations. We would gladly supply you with any further information you might require, and look forward to meeting with you in the near future as this matter has gone on for far too long and needs resolving as soon as possible." |
The response from the Ministers' office on 10th June 2015 has totally missed the seriousness of the matter and had dismissed the letter with the usual finess of a Whitehall stock answer so readily recogizable by all outside of Westminster:
"Thank you for your letter of 19 May regarding the Post Office Horizon mediation scheme. Your letter was passed to Baroness Neville-Rolfe, who is the Minister responsible for the Post Office. As I hope you will appreciate, the Minister receives a large amount of correspondence every day and is unable to respond to each one personally. I have been asked to reply.
Since Post Office commissioned Second Sight to undertake an independent investigation of the Horizon system in 2012, there has been over two years' worth of scrutiny of the system and two independent reports from Second Sight, in 2013 and 2015. Both reports demonstrate that there is no evidence of systemic flaws within the Horizon system which could cause the accounting discrepancies reported. This is welcome news as it demonstrates that the system used by over 68,000 users every day in 11,500 branches across the country is operating as it should. Nevertheless, recognising that there were a number of issues to address from Second Sight's initial investigation, the Post Office established the mediation scheme to enable current and former subpostmasters to bring forward their cases and seek to resolve any issues. As you are aware, the mediation scheme is independent of Government. Cases in the scheme relate to contractual disputes between two independent parties - Post Office Limited and individual subpostmasters - and it would not be appropriate for Government to intervene in these matters. It is disappointing to hear that JFSA is suggesting that its members withdraw from-the scheme. The mediation process is run by the independent Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) in line with established best practice, and each applicant is entitled to an independent advisor (funded by Post Office) and a case review from Second Sight, which should reassure applicants that the process is independently run and transparent. The Government encourages all parties involved in the scheme to continue to work together to ensure that those applicants with cases remaining in the scheme can progress to mediation swiftly. Regarding your concerns about the preservation of data relating to the scheme, Post Office have confirmed publicly that they will not destroy documentation relating to the scheme, including information provided to (and returned by) Second Sight. All parties involved in the mediation scheme are bound by confidentiality agreements including the requirement to store information appropriately and dispose of it when it is no longer needed, or return it to the information owner. As I hope you will understand, the Minister's diary is very busy and she is unable to accept every meeting invitation that she receives, I would encourage JFSA and its members to continue to work with the Post Office to ensure the remaining applicants in the scheme can progress to mediation." |
From the content of the response it was obvious the the respondee had either never read the Second Sight Part Two report or had failed to understand the gravity if its content. Furthermore it demonstrated that they no interest in a matter so serious, that it not only affected all those in the Scheme but to a certain extent had an impact on every Subpostmater in the country.
JFSA update 3rd June 2015
For those of you who have appointed Aver as your Professional Advisor, you may have already have been offered a standard letter of response to Post Office that Aver has prepared for their clients who want to suspend their involvement in the Mediation Scheme until Government has undertaken a review. If not, please contact Aver.
Those of you who are not with Aver might want to contact your Professional Advisor about the letter Aver is sending Post Office on behalf of their clients who request it. I am sure Aver would gladly pass on copies of the template letter to your Advisor upon request. The JFSA circular sent 14th May 2015 covered why it was important that these letters are sent to Post Office as soon as possible.
For those of you who have appointed Aver as your Professional Advisor, you may have already have been offered a standard letter of response to Post Office that Aver has prepared for their clients who want to suspend their involvement in the Mediation Scheme until Government has undertaken a review. If not, please contact Aver.
Those of you who are not with Aver might want to contact your Professional Advisor about the letter Aver is sending Post Office on behalf of their clients who request it. I am sure Aver would gladly pass on copies of the template letter to your Advisor upon request. The JFSA circular sent 14th May 2015 covered why it was important that these letters are sent to Post Office as soon as possible.