Post Office response to Group Litigation Judgment

The Group Litigation (Bates v Post Office) was concluded on 11 December 2019 when the parties reached a comprehensive resolution in full and final settlement of this litigation, following several days of mediation, beginning last month. As a result, no further trials will take place.

In closing these proceedings, the Honourable Mr Justice Fraser today delivered his judgment on a trial in the litigation, which took place last Summer. That trial focused on technical matters relating to Post Office’s Horizon system, the electronic point of sale system used in Post Office branches.

Post Office Chairman, Tim Parker, said:

“In reaching last week’s settlement with the claimants, we accepted our past shortcomings and I, both personally and on behalf of the Post Office, sincerely apologised to those affected when we got things wrong. We have given a commitment to learning lessons from these events, and today’s judgment underlines the need to do so.

“Whilst the judgment does recognise improvements we have made and that our current Horizon system is robust relative to comparable systems, it makes findings about previous versions of the system and past behaviours which further demonstrate the importance of the changes we must make in our business, particularly the ways in which we support our postmasters. Importantly, our new CEO has made clear the need to reset our relationship with postmasters and started the process to build a much better relationship with them.”

Chief Executive, Nick Read, said:

“We are now working to shape a modern and dynamic Post Office, with changes at every level of the organisation placing our postmasters and our customers at the centre of the business.

“The task ahead is to improve, be clear about our direction and purpose, and to give all of those who work for and with us the guidance and support they need to help us build a Post Office fit for the future, serving in communities throughout the UK.”

Ends