BDM at Parity Projects | Helping housing professionals design + implement cost-effective strategic retrofit programmes
I spent the early '00s social auditing post office closures, working to the Government's policy that the significant challenges to the network meant rationalisation was needed, with 2,500 subpostmasters offered compensation for closure. We saved some, but that's an aside at this point, apart from my worry that in doing so the subpostmaster was left with a poisoned chalice. Horizon at the time was, of course, POL's other big efficiency programme and I wonder now its role in 🔎 which subpostmasters volunteered for closure, which sometimes meant the 'wrong' post office closing in an area; 🔎 in Post Office Ltd's understanding of the viability of the network; and 🔎 the number of post offices that closed before consultation, preventing communities' from having a voice, and the subpostmaster from getting compensation (average £65k) 🔎Post Office reducing its initial target of compensated closures from 3,000 to 2,500 - was it the '555' that made this difference, to the benefit of POL and Government funding? Over the past week I've heard numerous comparisons with other scandals such as the infected blood inquiry and the treatment of WASPI women. Such inquiries require evidence, and so a particular hero of the Horizon story is Richard Roll, the ex-Fujitsu whistleblower. And with that I invite you to read my successor's blog and consider its relevance in other sectors. The Horizon scandal may be the biggest miscarriage of justice, but I hope it gives the media more appetite to tell the stories of the 'Davids', and more confidence to those wanting to blow the whistle on wrongdoing. Whether the harm is to people, property or the planet.
For several years, I led the policy team at the consumer watchdog for post offices. During the years in which the Horizon scandal was rapidly deepening, it gave me direct insight into how poor corporate leadership and organisational culture could lead to harm. Those experiences actively shaped my views on tech accountability - something which used to attract quizzical looks, but that I suspect is now widely understood. I’ve written here on my experiences of the Post Office corporate culture and the lessons that we should apply in other sectors, not least to secure progress on the tech accountability agenda #PostOffice #Horizon #accountability #governance #transparency #tech #techregulation
Kellin McCloskey
8mo
Had similar thoughts Liz.
Avinash Rajan
9mo
Liz Lainé thanks very much for sharing this very interesting read about accountability, and the accompanying sunk cost fallacy that underlay decision making, paid no heed to the impact on the victims
Brand Strategist at RBL Agency
9moLiz Lainé been watching the series and this past week I was thinking about reaching out to you and Sarah, wondering if some of those we assessed were part of this.