Support our Nation today - please donate here
News

Government allowed bureaucracy to get in way of Horizon redress – Kemi Badenoch

11 Nov 2024 7 minute read
Screen grab taken from the Post Office Horizon Inquiry of Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch giving evidence to the inquiry at Aldwych House, central London. Image: Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry/PA Wire

Conservative leader and former business secretary Kemi Badenoch has told the Horizon IT inquiry the government allowed “bureaucracy to get in the way of redress” for wronged subpostmasters.

Ms Badenoch said she, alongside ex-postal affairs minister Kevin Hollinrake, “wanted to get the money out there” but were “always given a reason why we couldn’t” by government officials.

In her witness statement to the inquiry, she said the Post Office would have “disappeared in its current form long ago” if it was a private organisation, adding that it is a “20th century organisation that is struggling to evolve in a 21st century world”.

The statement went on: “But we are keeping it alive — the result is that it is in a permanent state of stress and that will always impact culture.”

“Too much bureaucracy”

Commenting on why the redress process was slow, Mrs Badenoch said in her statement: “We had briefings on the issue with officials, and it was quite clear to me that we were allowing bureaucracy to get in the way of redress too much of the time.

“Kevin (Hollinrake) and I wanted to get the money out there, and we were always given a reason why we couldn’t.”

Explaining why she felt bureaucracy was getting in the way of redress, Mrs Badenoch told the probe on Monday: “I feel that there is often too much bureaucracy in the way of getting things done, because people are worried about process.

“They are worried about: if things go wrong, they’ll be on the hook for that.

“So they carry out lots of checks and balances well beyond what I think is required in order to deliver the right outcome.”

Questioned by counsel to the inquiry Jason Beer KC on who allowed bureaucracy to get in the way of redress, Mrs Badenoch replied: “Well, the government machine.

“I think I remember asking a question like: ‘Why can’t we just give them the money?’”

Mrs Badenoch continued: “Then I’d be told ‘there could be a judicial review, and the Treasury has these value for money requirements, if you don’t meet them then you might end up having to go to court’ – so I just kept trying to find a way through.”

Culture

Before her evidence, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the Post Office’s corporate culture is at the root of the Horizon scandal, but insisted the organisation is still “an incredibly important institution in national life”.

Mr Reynolds told the inquiry he takes “ultimate responsibility” at governmental level for full, fair and prompt redress for subpostmasters.

He said there had been a “significant increase in the pace at which compensation has been paid” since the general election, and told the probe he did not believe it had been “at the cost of fair or accurate compensation being made”.

Also giving evidence on Monday, Mr Reynolds said subpostmasters do not make “sufficient remuneration from what the public want from the Post Office”, adding that increases to their pay will require “very significant changes to the overall business model”.

Commenting on the culture within the Post Office in his witness statement to the inquiry, he said: “It is clear that the Post Office’s corporate culture is at the root of this scandal, and I want to make sure the system works for subpostmasters.

“I am supportive of a reform agenda which seeks to turn this ambition into reality.”

Lead campaigner and former subpostmaster Sir Alan Bates previously told MPs he wanted the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) to set a deadline of March next year for redress payments for claimants who took the Post Office to the High Court between 2017 and 2019 – also known as the GLO scheme.

Asked if he could commit to the deadline set by Sir Alan, Mr Reynolds said: “The position I’m in is I’m trying to make sure people get redress for a horrendous scandal… at a minimum, I don’t want to do anything that makes that injustice even worse.

“And the worry about a deadline – can you imagine a situation where, for whatever reason, a claim has not come in?

“I think it will be unconscionable to say that that is not going to be considered.”

Mr Reynolds added: “If my frustration at those claims not arriving in the department meant that I felt that was the only way to speed those up, and I felt that wasn’t going to prejudice any individual claim… it will be something that I will consider.”

Counsel to the inquiry Julian Blake asked: “If there is not full, fair and prompt redress for subpostmasters, do you take ultimate responsibility at a governmental level?”

The Business Secretary said: “Yes, I think this is an example of where in the past, there has been insufficient accountability, and ultimately as the Secretary of State, I take accountability for everything that is within the Department for Business and Trade.”

Mr Blake continued: “How do you propose that full, fair and prompt redress is going to be achieved?”

Mr Reynolds responded: “Since the general election, there has been a significant increase in the pace at which compensation has been paid.

“The overall quantum of compensation is up in the last four months by roughly a third, and the number of claims to which there has been an initial offer being made in response to that claim has roughly doubled in the last four months to what it has been in the four months preceding the general election.

“But I would very much want to say that I do not believe that increase in pace has been at the cost of fair or accurate compensation being made.”

Mr Reynolds added: “The position is still not to everyone’s satisfaction, but I think you can see we’ve tried to speed up compensation and redress, without that being at the cost of any claimant feeling that’s not an accurate or fair level of redress for them to receive.”

Change

Commenting on the how the Post Office should change in the future, Mr Reynolds said: “I think despite the scale of this scandal, the Post Office is still an incredibly important institution in national life.

“I think it still has an incredible role to play in communities.

“I look at the business model of the Post Office, and I think even accounting for the changes in the core services that are provided… there’s still a whole range of services that are really important.

“But I don’t think postmasters make sufficient remuneration from what the public want from the Post Office, and I think that’s going to require some very significant changes to the overall business model of the Post Office.”

More than 900 subpostmasters were prosecuted between 1999 and 2015 after faulty Horizon accounting software made it look as though money was missing from their accounts.

Hundreds are still awaiting compensation despite the previous government announcing that those who have had convictions quashed are eligible for £600,000 payouts.


Support our Nation today

For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

5 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Dai Ponty
Dai Ponty
29 days ago

What she should say is TORY GOVERNMENT of which she was part off

hdavies15
hdavies15
29 days ago

Post Office may have been, and continues to be, a creaky clunky organisation. However the Horizon debacle is about the failure of the Board and senior management to act decisively when they found that their “system solution” was generating dud information. That was the time for immediate corrective action. Instead they conspired with Fujitsu to deny, defend the indefensible, and condemn 100’s of people to wrongful convictions, penalties and unnecessary poverty. I can’t accept that any regime in power could stand idly by and watch those people stew but the Tories did just that and now we have Labour looking… Read more »

Evan Aled Bayton
Evan Aled Bayton
29 days ago
Reply to  hdavies15

Harold Wilson made the Aberfan fund pay for the removal of the coal tip. Tony Blair eventually refunded the money but only at 1960s value. Neither party is fit for purpose. Here in Cheshire we have an MP currently awaiting trial for an alleged assault. None of them are any good.

Jeff
Jeff
29 days ago

14 years her government did nothing but kick the can down the road. Now she is blaming the government machine? She wants to cut red tape, deregulate, why not stick the boot in now whilst it serves your purpose.

Evan Aled Bayton
Evan Aled Bayton
29 days ago

The indecision Kemi Badenoch describes is part of the UK attitude of delay and deferral. As a consequence schools and hospitals and other infrastructure are unfit for purpose. The usual approach is to lock the the stable door after the horse has bolted and to praise attempts to fix things with chewing gum and gaffer tape. The Civil Service is now the problem rather than the solution.

Our Supporters

All information provided to Nation.Cymru will be handled sensitively and within the boundaries of the Data Protection Act 2018.