Embattled Post Office chief executive Nick Read is leaving the troubled organisation in March 2025. He will be replaced on an interim basis by chief operating officer Neil Brocklehurst.
Victims of the Post Office scandal have consistently called for Read’s departure following years of delays in paying compensation and revelations this year that he threatened to resign unless he was awarded a substantial pay rise.
Read took over as CEO in September 2019, replacing Paula Vennells just as the High Court group litigation order (GLO) case brought by subpostmasters proved that the Horizon IT system from Fujitsu was the cause of accounting losses blamed on branch operators.
Read was tasked with modernising the Post Office, and his first act was to agree a settlement with the 555 claimants in the High Court case. He subsequently oversaw the setting up of schemes to provide financial redress for victims, which have left many affected subpostmasters still waiting for their compensation claims to be concluded years later.
He was catapulted into the spotlight at the start of this year as a result of the national outrage following broadcast of the ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office. He faced sharp criticism after appearing before a committee of MPs amid accusations he gave misleading evidence – a claim Read subsequently denied.
Read was caught in the crossfire of the political spat between then secretary of state for business and trade Kemi Badenoch and former Post Office chairman Henry Staunton – who was sacked by Badenoch.
During Staunton’s evidence disputing Badenoch’s claim that he had been under investigation over his behaviour, Staunton produced an 80-page document that showed Read was under investigation by the organisation’s HR department. Staunton also said Read had threatened to resign more than once over his pay – despite Read earlier denying to the committee under oath that he had ever considered quitting his job.
In a statement accompanying the Post Office announcement of his departure, 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.
“There remains much to be done for this great UK institution but the journey to reset the relationship with postmasters is well underway and our work to support justice and redress for postmasters will continue.”
Nigel Railton, interim chair of the Post Office, said: “On behalf of the board, I would like to thank Nick for his commitment and hard work in leading the business over the past five years. It has been a challenging period for the Post Office and its postmasters, and Nick has been instrumental in navigating the business through this while beginning the important process of cultural change.”
Campaigner and former subpostmaster Jo Hamilton, one of the 555 GLO claimants and among the first victims to have her conviction quashed, said of Read’s departure: “I struggle to think of anything he has achieved in his remit. He could correct that by getting the postmasters, especially the GLO group, paid before he goes in March.”
Read will be appearing before the next phase of the public inquiry into the Post Office scandal in October. This final phase of the inquiry will examine current practice and procedure at the Post Office, as well as compensation issues.
Read is the latest in a series of Post Office executives to quit in recent weeks. The organisation currently has interim appointments in place for several key board-level roles, including chair, chief finance officer, chief operating officer (COO) and chief transformation officer (CTO) as a result of recent departures.
Interim CEO Brocklehurst only joined the Post Office in July as interim COO. He was previously at Camelot, the former operator of the National Lottery, as was interim chair Railton and interim CTO Andy Nice.
The Post Office scandal was first exposed by Computer Weekly in 2009, revealing the stories of seven subpostmasters and the problems they suffered due to Horizon accounting software, which led to the most widespread miscarriage of justice in British history (see below timeline of Computer Weekly articles about the scandal since 2009).
• Also read: What you need to know about the Horizon scandal •
• Also watch: ITV’s documentary – Mr Bates vs The Post Office: The real story •
• Also read: Post Office and Fujitsu malevolence and incompetence means huge taxpayers’ bill •
