This story has been described as one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in British history. It involves the British Post Office pursuing innocent workers (postmasters) for apparent financial irregularities and shortfalls which were caused by faults in its IT accounting software system that made it look like money was missing from branch accounts. Postmasters are self-employed and run branch post offices under contract to the Post Office and are liable for any loss or damage to any Post Office cash and stock and any shortfalls in the money payable to the Post Office must be made good (in full) by the postmaster.  

Between 1999 and 2015 more than 900 postmasters were (wrongly) convicted of theft, fraud, and false accounting based on a faulty IT data. Some postmasters who were prosecuted but not convicted, were forced to cover shortfalls caused by the faulty IT system with their own money, or have the contracts terminated. The Post Office’s actions resulted in criminal convictions, imprisonments, loss of livelihoods and homes, debts, and bankruptcies leading to stress, illness, family breakdowns, and at least four suicides.

Although there were many reports of problems and balancing errors with the software, and the IT company was aware that the software had bugs as early as 1999, the Post Office insisted that the system was robust, and it failed to disclose knowledge of the faults in the system during criminal and civil cases. The Post Office pursued its postmasters with demonic intensity. Once a criminal conviction was secured, the Post Office would then attempt to secure a proceeds of crime order against the convicted worker allowing it to seize their assets. The Post Office also pursued civil claims against its postmasters, even after an appointed expert reported that discrepancies could have been caused by faults in the IT system. 

In a 2019 class action case against the Post Office by former postmasters, the judge found that the postmaster contracts were unfair, and the IT system contained “bugs, errors and defects”. The case settled for £58million and led to the postmasters challenging their convictions in the courts and the government setting up an independent inquiry in 2020. By 2024, 100 of the convictions had been overturned and those wrongfully convicted became eligible for compensation. The British Government also announced an independent inquiry into the scandal which is headed by Sir Wyn Williams.  

There are many important learnings from this scandal. The Post Office was made aware of the issues and software faults, yet when the postmasters experienced unexplained losses, they were blamed and made to balance the books or prosecuted. Putting aside the issue of a cover-up, a poor workplace investigation can (and will) lead to a bad outcome. A workplace investigation should be an impartial fact-finding exercise. It should aim to identify the root cause of a problem or accusation and to determine the appropriate action or methodology to resolve the issue. Employers are required to deal with complaints, allegations or grievances fairly and lawfully, and this often requires a robust and full investigation. A good rule of thumb is the more serious the complaint or allegation, the more careful and fulsome the investigation needs to be. Being wrongly accused of dishonesty (as is the case with the British postmasters) is a traumatic experience for any worker to have to go though and the devastating consequences speak for themselves.

There are some common mistakes employers make in workplace investigations. For example, a failure to gather and critically evaluate information related to the issue. Another example is deciding on who should investigate so that the investigation is independent. If you are intending to embark on a workplace investigation, then it is recommended you obtain professional assistance and guidance from your Wynn Williams employment team.