Local Post Offices share concerns
Siân Swinton
Post Offices are still experiencing complications with their accounting software, say local Postmasters, and they’re not getting paid enough to put up with it.
The issues with the Post Office Horizon accounting software have been a hot topic recently, especially with the airing of the ITV series Mr Bates Vs The Post Office in January.
Sadly, the scandal had a local effect in Uist, devastating the lives of Bill and Anne Quarm, who ran a Bed & Breakfast and a shop with a Post Office counter in North Uist.
The Quarms’ story has been one of Scotland’s highest profile Horizon cases, but at least four other Post Offices in Uist have also been affected, thankfully with less tragic consequences. Some are even still experiencing issues with the Horizon software, Am Pàipear has heard.
Bill Hogg and Donna Hogg of the Carnan and Balivanich Post Offices told us:
“Unexplained discrepancies as shown in the TV drama have happened and continue to happen in Post Offices and we, like so many, have had personal experiences in our Post Offices. The public are unaware that Horizon still doesn’t work properly even to this day.”
Another local Postmaster spoke of small discrepancies in their system:
”With hindsight and new information these unexplained discrepancies make sense.”
Some Postmasters will be unable to prove these discrepancies as they paid the shortfall from their own pockets.
“I’d thought I must have messed up but was positive I hadn’t, so I paid it. My paperwork won’t show it as I put money in when balancing to correct what was showing on screen.”
Since the broadcasting of the ITV drama, approximately 100 more people have come forward to say they were affected by the software errors.
Another concern for local businesses operating Post Office counters is the low rate of pay, which has led some to question whether the risk of unreliable accounting software is worth it.
Donna Hogg says the money made from the counters “doesn’t even cover the electric to run the Horizon computer, never mind cover staff wages or for us to live off.”
The counters make between £1.25 and £1.97 per hour, according to Donna’s last tally.
“We always knew having a Post Office would not make us millionaires and we took it on as it is a vital service to our communities and we’re proud to provide this service even when it’s financially not viable.”
The Horizon scandal has shocked the nation and, here in Uist, the severity of its impact has been keenly felt. Anne Quarm has recently spoken of her own experiences following the overturning of her husband Bill’s conviction.
The Post Office accused Bill of embezzling tens of thousands of pounds and, under threat of imprisonment, he pleaded guilty to the charge. Bill was convicted and ordered to undertake 150 hours of unpaid work in 2010, and passed away only two years later.
Bill tragically died before his name could be cleared. The distress caused by the accusation and the subsequent loss of their business and family home impacted his health significantly, believes Anne.
The accounting software responsible for the scandal had issues that were known by the Post Office and by Fujitsu, the company that created it.
In the time between 1999 and 2015 more than 900 Postmasters were prosecuted for theft and fraud when the software showed shortfalls in their accounting. These shortfalls were actually errors within the system rather than deliberate false accounting.
The Horizon IT Inquiry in London was ongoing as Am Pàipear went to print.
