Post Office cuts 100 jobs as part of plans to add £250m to subpostmaster pay after Horizon scandal
29 January 2025, 17:09
The Post Office CEO Neil Brocklehurst informed senior staff in a memo that they will cut around 100 jobs to help boost payouts to thousands of its subpostmasters.
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Senior managers were told that they would be affected on Wednesday, after the memo was sent to all staff.
The cuts mark the latest part of an overhaul set out by chairman Nigel Railton in November, when he said he would boost subpostmaster pay by £250 million over five years.
In the memo announcing the decision, Brocklehurst wrote: "The intention behind these proposed changes remains to create a more efficient team that can effectively deliver a sustainable future for the network, for postmasters and their communities.
"The intention is to rebase our costs to help fund the upcoming transformative change which aims to leave the Post Office on a more sustainable financial footing.
"It is critical that we continue to make progress in resetting the Post Office for the future."
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It comes as the public inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal, in which almost a thousand subpostmasters were wrongfully prosecuted between 1999 and 2015, is ongoing.
More than 900 subpostmasters were prosecuted for stealing after the company's defective accounting system made it appear as though money was missing from their branches.
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236 subpostmasters were imprisoned as part of the scandal. Many experienced extreme financial hardships, and some took their own lives.
Hundreds are still awaiting compensation despite the previous government saying that those who have had convictions quashed are eligible for £600,000 payouts.
The Post Office had agreed to pay 555 victims £58 million in compensation, but most of that money went to legal fees they incurred.
The Met Police is currently investigating the company for potential fraud offences.
Post Office sought to make Horizon bugs sound ‘non-emotive’, inquiry told
The state-owned company is now trying to move on from the scandal, and announced a widespread restructuring in November.
When the overhaul plan was announced, the Post Office also revealed it is looking to offload 115 directly-owned branches within its 11,500 network.
That means more existing branches could be operated by shops or independently in future - or they could close.
Some 1,000 staff members work across the 115 branches, so they could lose their jobs if they shut their doors. Hundreds more roles are also under threat at Post Office headquarters.
The Horizon IT scandal has been labelled Britain's biggest ever miscarriage of justice.
Operation Olympos is being led by teams across the UK and has been described as “unprecedented in size” with thousands of potential victims and more than 1.5 million documents which have to be reviewed.
