Post Office Inquiry: Week 2 – Recap

The Post Office inquiry resumed on 23 September for its seventh and final phase. Here is a summary of who gave evidence during week 2.

Tuesday 1 October

Henry Staunton – former Chair of Post Office Ltd (POL)

Henry Staunton is a former Chair of POL who came out of retirement to take on this role in December 2022. He was fired in January 2024 by Kemi Badenoch MP (who was the Business Secretary at the time, and is also due to give evidence to the Inquiry during this Phase).

He explained that ‘the whole place was a mess’ when he joined POL and that at the time it would appear that the priority was to get Nick Read (CEO of POL who is due to give evidence on 9 – 11 October week) a pay rise, more than dealing with compensation of Sub-postmasters and mistresses (SPM’s). This is because there was an internal view within POL that the Historical Shortfall Scheme (one of the three compensation schemes for SPMs) was doing well.

Alisdair Cameron – former Chief Financial Officer of Post Office Ltd

Alisdair Cameron (who had previously given evidence during Phase 5 and 6), came back to give further evidence. His evidence was short, but one of the matters that he informed the Inquiry was that he believed there was a conflict of interest between those working for POL, and SPMs. This is because POL want to meet financial targets first and the easiest way to do this, would be by not paying SPMs much money.

Wednesday 2 October

Chris Brocklesby – Chief Transformation Officer of Post Office Ltd

Chris Brocklesby, who worked as the Post Office’s former Chief Transformation Officer from August 2023 to September 2024, helped to provide an insight into the changes made to Horizon since the Fraser judgments and the New Branch IT (‘NBIT’) system that will replace Horizon.

Friday 4 October

Rachel Scarrrabelotti – Company Secretary of Post Office Ltd

Rachel Scarrabelotti is the current POL company secretary and began her role in April 2022. She described how it had been harder to get to grips with the role because of the minimal training provided on joining.

She also confirmed raising concerns about Henry Staunton not following proper processes / governance when seeking to delay his annual appraisal. In contrast, she said that the SPM NEDs, Elliot Jacobs and Saf Ismail (who gave evidence during Week 1 of Phase 7) had been very beneficial members of the board and that additional SPM input was needed at executive level where it could be applied more in day to day operational matters.

Veronica Branton – former Company Secretary of Post Office Ltd

Veronica Branton was employed at POL from February 2018 – March 2022. During the latter part of her employment she was the Company Secretary, and then was replaced by Ms Scarrabelotti.

Similarly to Ms Scarabelloti, Ms Branton noted that she did not receive specific training or induction on issues relating to the Inquiry like Horizon issues or the Group Litigation Order. She also noted that there would be times where decisions were being made, without her being aware; and that in terms of the environment, it was not helped by the fact that senior leadership did not have the skills or experience to deal with the matters that the Inquiry are dealing with.

The Crime Team at Hodge Jones & Allen have the privilege of representing a number of SPM’s as Core Participants in the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry. The Civil Liberties & Human Rights Team and Dispute Resolution Team also represent SPM’s in respect of compensation claims. If you, or anyone you know, is a victim of the Post Office Scandal please call us now on 0808 278 8389 or email our legal experts at postofficeclaims@hja.net.