Post Office boss Nick Read cleared of misconduct claims

The boss of the Post Office Nick Read has been cleared of misconduct allegations after an investigation on behalf of the organisation.

The Post Office said Mr Read has "the full and united backing of the board" to continue in his role following the investigation by an external barrister.

Mr Read also has the confidence of the government, a spokesperson said.

The investigation into Mr Read's conduct had been revealed by former Post Office chairman Henry Staunton.

Although the existence of allegations against Mr Read surfaced during a hearing looking at the Post Office Horizon scandal, the misconduct claims were separate from that.

Mr Staunton told MPs who were looking into compensation payments for sub-postmasters over the scandal that Mr Read was at the centre of an investigation, consisting of allegations made by the Post Office's former HR boss.

He claimed that Mr Read and the senior HR person "fell out" and that the allegations were about Mr Read's "conduct and lack of his management of the many governance and compliance issues".

Mr Staunton also claimed Mr Read had tried to resign four times during his time as chair of the Post Office, between December 2022 and January 2024, and had been "badgering over his salary".

The Post Office said Mr Staunton's claims contained "inaccuracies and falsehoods" and Mr Read told his staff last month that he "absolutely refutes" the claims made against him.

On Wednesday, the organisation said a report written by barrister Marianne Tutin, of Devereux Chambers, had "exonerated" Mr Read of "all misconduct allegations".

The Post Office has not released the document, and said it would be providing no further details about the allegations, which had been made as part of a whistleblowing process called "Speak Up".

It said it was "unacceptable that this specific process was referred to in the public domain".

However, it added: "Post Office wants to make clear that Speak Up allegations will always be thoroughly and consistently investigated, whoever they are aimed at."

A Department for Business and Trade spokesperson said Mr Read had "the confidence of the government".

"We feel this report has drawn a line under the issue and now regard the matter as closed, which allows us to turn our full attention to ensuring postmasters are compensated quickly and fairly," the spokesperson said.

Between 1999 and 2015, hundreds of sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted for theft and false accounting after a faulty computer system called Horizon made it look like money was missing from their branches.

Legislation is going through parliament to quash the wrongful convictions of sub-postmasters, but campaigners have consistently criticised the amount of time it has taken for victims to receive full and final financial redress.

As of 31 March, 37 people had received full and final compensation for overturned convictions.