Embattled Post Office boss Nick Read chief executive to step down

The Post Office's chief executive, Nick Read, is set to step down from the role in March, the company has said.

The embattled CEO had taken a step back from his role in July to give his 'entire attention' to preparing for the next stage of the Horizon IT inquiry.

He had become CEO in 2019, succeeding former boss Paula Vennells, who this year forfeited her CBE following public anger over her handling of the Horizon scandal. 

The departing chief executive said in a statement it had been a 'great privilege' to have worked as Post Office chief executive in an 'extraordinarily challenging time for the business and for postmasters'.

But leading sub-postmaster campaigner Sir Alan Bates said that Mr Read 'hasn't achieved anything' for those wronged in the Horizon scandal during his time as CEO. 

The firm, which is set to announce current interim chief operating officer Neil Brocklehurst as acting CEO, confirmed Mr Read's departure this morning. 

Nigel Railton, the interim chair of the embattled organisation, praised Mr Read for 'beginning the important process of cultural change' as the Post Office continues to deal with the fallout of the Horizon scandal.

Following the announcement that he is stepping down from his role, Mr Read said: 'It has been a great privilege to work with colleagues and postmasters during the past five years in what has been an extraordinarily challenging time for the business and for postmasters.

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'There remains much to be done for this great UK institution but the journey to reset the relationship with postmasters is well under way and our work to support justice and redress for postmasters will continue.'

His decision to step down in March next year comes during the continuing fallout from the Horizon scandal - which included MPs expressing a lack of confidence in his leadership at the business and trade committee in February.

More than 700 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses were wrongly prosecuted and jailed for theft, false accounting and other offences between 1999 and 2015 in cases brought by the Post Office using flawed data. 

Lead campaigner and former subpostmaster Sir Alan Bates said Nick Read 'hasn't achieved anything' during his time as chief executive.

Reacting to his decision to step down from the role in March next year, Sir Alan told the PA news agency: 'Do you know, I predicted that.

'It's funny that because when I knew he'd taken seven weeks' leave - in theory to prepare for the inquiry - I thought he'd taken seven weeks off to find a new job.

'Honestly, that was my first thought.'

Asked for reflections on his five-year tenure, Sir Alan said: 'Well, he really hasn't achieved anything, has he?

Read calls time on Post Office job 

Post Office boss Nick Read joined long after the events which eventually sparked the Horizon scandal, but his tenure has been dominated by the crisis.

Mr Read, 59, said on Wednesday that it was a 'great privilege' to have worked as chief executive, as the company announced that he would leave in March 2025.

A former army officer, Mr Read was boss of Nisa Retail and of now-defunct energy supplier Extra Energy before joining the Post Office in 2019.

Then, litigation between a group of 555 subpostmasters and the Post Office was just coming to a head, in which the company agreed to pay £58 million in compensation.

In the intervening years the inquiry has heard evidence of how more than 900 subpostmasters were prosecuted for stealing, based on incorrect information from the Horizon IT system.

While Mr Read has not faced the same level of public anger as his predecessor, Paula Vennells, who this year forfeited her CBE over her handling of the crisis, he has had significant controversy.

That included accusations from the former HR director of the Post Office that he was 'obsessed with his pay', and that he repeatedly made threats to resign over the issue.

Mr Read was also the subject of an investigation by an independent barrister, who looked into allegations against the chief executive including accusations of 'bullying' by former chairman Henry Staunton.

But the Post Office later said the review 'exonerated' him of misconduct claims, and that he had the full backing of the board to continue to lead the business.

That also came after the Business and Trade Select Committee of MPs expressed a lack of confidence in his leadership, accusing him of giving misleading evidence.

Mr Read said in July that he would temporarily step back from the chief executive role to give his 'entire attention' to the next stage of the Horizon IT inquiry. He is set to give evidence to the inquiry in October.

He said on Wednesday that there 'remains much to be done for this great UK institution but the journey to reset the relationship with postmasters is well under way'.

'He certainly hasn't done anything for the victims in all of this. I mean, I'm lost for words.'

On what he wanted from Mr Read's successor, Sir Alan told PA: 'It needs somebody just to actually resolve and get everything out of the way - get all the misdemeanours that have gone on in the past, get them out in the open and to drive this whole issue, this whole scandal, and all aspects of it, out.

'And get rid of so many of these people who have been involved over the years who just seem to be shuffled around within Post Office.

'Someone's got to come in with one big sweeping brush and clear the whole thing out.'

Mr Read had faced calls to quit over a letter in which he said the Post Office would stand by the prosecution of more than half of the sub-postmasters convicted during the Horizon scandal.

During his tenure he also faced claims of misconduct, with the firm's former chairman Henry Staunton accusing him of bullying and sexism.

Mr Staunton claimed that the former Army officer had threatened to resign four times over his 'too low' £400,000 salary after being 'badgered' over it by MPs during a marathon MP committee session in February.

The Post Office's latest accounts suggest Mr Read's pay for the 2022 to 2023 financial year totalled £570,000. In the previous year, he was paid £816,000 including salary and bonuses. 

Mr Staunton added that the firm's former HR director had reportedly given a detailed account into his alleged behaviour.

In the letter to the Commons business committee, Mr Staunton said: 'As the only woman in the senior management team... she felt that she was being treated by Read and his henchmen as a 'pain in the a**e' for focusing on tackling the toxic culture rather than prioritising Read's salary.'

The Post Office claimed that Mr Staunton's claims contained 'inaccuracies and falsehoods', while Mr Read told staff at the firm he 'absolutely refutes' bullying claims.

He was later exonerated of 'all misconduct allegations' in an external report compiled by barrister Marianne Tutin of Devereux Chambers.

In June this year he was forced to apologise after the Post Office published the home addresses of 555 wronged postmasters in what he called a 'truly terrible error'.

He said he could 'only apologise' after the firm published a dossier of people involved in a High court action in 2019.

The document, marked 'confidential', included a list of names and home addresses with postcodes.

Ex-postmaster Christopher Head, tweeted a letter he sent Mr Read and Post Office chairman Nigel Railton, telling them: 'There are many who hadn't shared details with their own families and others who are extremely traumatised by this whole scandal even today and this has further impacted them.'

He said Mr Read replied, saying: 'This is a truly terrible error and one for which at this stage I can only apologise.'