Written evidence submitted by the Communication Workers Union (CWU) (POH0007) Introduction 1. The Communication Workers Union (CWU) is the largest union in the communications sector in the UK, representing approximately 192,000 members. We are the recognised trade union for all non-managerial employee grades in the Post Office Limited (POL), where we have members in all sections of the business. Although we have subpostmasters in CWU membership, the CWU is not recognised by the Post Office for collective bargaining purposes for subpostmasters. This is something we are calling for so that subpostmasters have strong collective representation and protection through a genuinely independent trade union. 2. The Post Office Horizon IT system scandal is an outrageous miscarriage of justice caused by a series of catastrophic failures, corporate complacency and bullying, denials, cover ups and false evidence by the POL leadership over nearly two decades. The Government is also to blame for not providing the necessary oversight, control and intervention to ensure that POL was being run effectively. Fujitsu has serious questions to answer for supporting POL’s position that Horizon was robust and giving misleading evidence in court that contributed to the wrongful conviction of innocent people. It is also important that the BEIS Committee investigates the actions of the National Federation of Subpostmasters (NFSP), which refused to represent its members on this case and supported POL's position right up until the final judgment. 3. The CWU is calling for: Swift justice and exoneration for all those wrongfully convicted of criminal offences; Full compensation and reparations for all those affected. The existing compensation available to claimants after costs and fees is nowhere near adequate; An urgent judge led public inquiry to uncover the full facts and hold all those responsible to account; An independent review into the current Horizon IT system to ensure that it is fit for purpose and that previous defects have been resolved. This is vital to restore the confidence of subpostmasters and Post Office clients; Collective bargaining recognition for the CWU by the Post Office so that subpostmasters have strong collective representation through an independent trade union; A new deal for subpostmasters on pay and conditions and new contractual protections and assurances against blame for future accounting system errors; and The Post Office network and services, including Crown Offices, all POL staff and customers should not be adversely impacted in any way as a result of the Horizon scandal. To this end, the costs of civil and criminal litigation should not be borne by the Post Office, and should be the responsibility of Government. Key points 1. Impact on subpostmaster victims of false accusations and convictions 4. The High Court judgment in December 2019 ruled that the Horizon system was to blame for accounting errors that destroyed the lives of hundreds of innocent hard working people. Since Horizon was introduced by the Post Office in 2000, hundreds of subpostmasters have been falsely accused of fraud and theft. Many have been wrongfully prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned whilst others have been bankrupted and lost their homes, businesses, and their livelihoods. Some have lost their families and friends, and been forced out of their communities. Their reputations have been ruined, and they have been vilified and physically attacked for their alleged crimes.1 5. There are cases of subpostmasters who have died an early death due to ill health caused by their treatment at the hands of POL, whilst trying to restore their reputation.2 There is at least one documented case of suicide.3 Others have reported that they became suicidal or that their mental health disintegrated.4 One woman was jailed on her son’s tenth birthday whilst carrying her second child. She said she would have taken her own life if she had not been pregnant.5 Another young woman did make an attempt on her own life before being imprisoned at the age of nineteen due to a false accusation of theft, despite her family paying back the money she allegedly stole in a bid to keep her out of jail.6 She is now 36 years old and has had to suffer the mental scars of this shocking experience and endure her wrongful conviction and a criminal record her entire adult life.7 2. Post Office failures, denials and cover ups 1 Jailed Post Office worker: I wanted to kill myself, BBC News, 15th December 2019, accessed at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-50756192 2 Post Office agrees to pay subpostmasters £58m compensation over false accusations of theft, The Telegraph, 11th December 2019, accessed at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/12/11/post-office-ordered-pay- subpostmasters-58m-compensation-false/ 3 Decent lives destroyed by the Post Office, Mail Online, 24th April 2015, accessed at: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3054706/Decent-lives-destroyed-Post-Office-monstrous-injustice- scores-sub-postmasters-driven-ruin-suicide-computers-really-blame.html 4 Victim testimony, Post Office Trial, 23rd January 2019, accessed at: https://www.postofficetrial.com/2019/01/victims-testimony.html 5 Depression, bankruptcy and jail: why we sued the Post Office, Sky News, 15th March 2019, accessed at: https://news.sky.com/story/depression-bankruptcy-and-jail-why-we-sued-the-post-office-11623616 6 Post Office vs Mental Health: “They didn’t care that I was this scared girl” – Tracy’s story, Post Office Trial, 24th June 2019, accessed at: https://www.postofficetrial.com/2019/06/post-office-v-mental-health-they-didnt.html 7 Post Office staff are to launch Britain’s largest ever miscarriage of justice case to have theft slurs quashed, Mail Online, 3rd March 2020, accessed at: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8067795/Post-Office-staff-launch- Britains-largest-miscarriage-justice-case.html 6. Long and widely held suspicions have finally been confirmed through the Horizon trial that the Post Office was well aware that there were problems with its IT system, but it aggressively denied that any faults existed and tried to suppress any evidence to the contrary. The Post Office refused to accept or publish reports produced by Second Sight, the consultancy firm it employed to investigate the Horizon system, after it revealed serious problems with Horizon technology and processes. Instead the Post Office issued counter- reports and denials. The Post Office sacked Second Sight shortly before the consultancy’s final report was circulated in 2015, and terminated the complaint and mediation scheme for subpostmasters.8 It then reportedly ordered Second Sight to hand over or destroy all material it had accumulated in the course of its two-and-a-half-year study.9 7. The evidence and the outcome of the trial clearly reveal that POL continued to prosecute its subpostmasters for alleged wrongdoing despite knowing of faults with Horizon. The High Court judge Peter Fraser said POL’s claims that Horizon was robust and could not be blamed for financial losses were wrong and “amounted, in reality, to bare assertions and denials that ignore what has actually occurred”.10 The Post Office fiercely and stubbornly protested its innocence in court, spending millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money on its legal defence, challenging every minor detail and even making a desperate attempt to recuse the judge.11 Judge Fraser said the Post Office "has resisted timely resolution of this Group Litigation whenever it can”, and used the word ‘attrition’ in describing the Post Office’s approach to litigation.12 In other words, the Post Office wanted to keep throwing taxpayers’ funds at the case until the claimants ran out of money. POL’s arrogant and persistent refusal to accept it was in the wrong has prolonged the misery of hundreds of subpostmaster victims, denying them justice whilst simultaneously wasting millions in public money, damaging the Post Office’s brand reputation and with it the organisation’s future stability. 3. The need for full compensation and accountability 8. This appalling scandal has rightly been described as one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in UK history.13 The Post Office has made an apology of sorts, but under the 8 Second Sight’s Ron Warmington breaks his silence, Post Office Trial, 18th December 2019, accessed at: https://www.postofficetrial.com/2019/12/second-sights-ron-warmington-breaks-his.html 9 Post Office IT, Crash Test Dummies, Private Eye, March 2015 10 Judge rules that Post Office IT system was not remotely robust, Financial Times, 16th December 2019, accessed at: https://www.ft.com/content/07f74dda-2031-11ea-92da-f0c92e957a96 11 Post Office applies for removal of High Court judge in Horizon IT case, 21st March 2019, accessed at: https://ukcampaign4change.com/2019/03/21/post-office-applies-for-removal-of-high-court-judge-in-horizon-it- case/ 12 Blighty’s most trusted brand? Yeah you wish, judge tells Post Office in Horizon IT ruling, The Register, 16th March 2019, accessed at: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/03/15/post_office_horizon_it_system_initial_judgment/ 13 Quote from Andrew Bridgen MP, Government claims it was misled by Post Office over IT Scandal, Computer circumstances a simple apology is not acceptable. There must be full compensation for all the victims including those who paid back money they didn’t owe to avoid prosecution. All wrongful convictions must be swiftly quashed, and there must be a proper judge led public inquiry. 9. Equally, there must be accountability and consequences for senior managers of POL, including Paula Vennells and Tim Parker who have presided over this horrific situation. Paula Vennell’s position as a non-executive director of the Cabinet Office and as Chair of the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust are now surely untenable and she should immediately resign or be sacked.