Submit Workplace scandal: Bosses earned tens of millions regardless of Horizon scandal

How a lot did the individuals operating the Submit Workplace receives a commission whereas the flawed Horizon system was in place?

By trying via the corporate accounts for the Submit Workplace and Royal Mail, the BBC has provide you with a determine – £19.4m over 24 years.

Earlier than 2012, Royal Mail and the Submit Workplace had been a part of the identical organisation – and its three successive chief executives, John Roberts, Adam Crozier and Dame Moya Greene, made a complete of £12.8m. All three of them are on account of seem at Horizon Inquiry which resumes on 9 April.

From 2012 onwards, the chief executives of the separated Submit Workplace, Paula Vennells then Nick Learn, have made a complete of £6.5m.

That is a median of lower than £1m a 12 months – in comparison with the £3.91m the typical boss of Britain’s 100 largest listed corporations earned in 2022.

It is an enormous sum in comparison with the wage of common employees, or for sub-postmasters nonetheless ready for compensation.

The Submit Workplace argues that it’s a very massive, complicated enterprise which has to compete with different organisations for expertise, and makes use of exterior consultants to advise on govt pay. So who’re the Submit Workplace bosses and what did every of them earn?

Mr Learn, a former captain of Dragoons who had been chief govt of Nisa Retail, joined in September 2019, just a few months after 550 sub-postmasters gained a dramatic Excessive Court docket victory.

He agreed a a lot greater base wage than his predecessor, Ms Vennells, incomes £415,000 a 12 months in comparison with her £255,000.

Nonetheless, he has much less scope to earn bonuses – and people bonuses have fallen round £500,000 under the utmost he might have made due to the pandemic, the Horizon Inquiry, and the monetary efficiency of the enterprise.

Consequently has ended up incomes barely much less on common than Ms Vennells.

He returned £54,000 which was incorrectly paid for serving to the Inquiry to complete – it is nonetheless ongoing.

For 2022/23 he made a bonus of £137,000 out of the utmost £383,210 he might need hoped to earn.

In February, it emerged the Submit Workplace had requested authorities for permission to double his pay.

Ms Vennells took over as Submit Workplace managing director in 2010, and stayed within the prime job till April 2019. This era noticed the prosecution of greater than 100 sub-postmasters, a failed mediation scheme, and the sub-postmasters’ court docket case culminating in a victory within the Excessive Court docket.

An element-time Church of England vicar, she turned some of the recognisable faces of the scandal, that includes prominently within the ITV drama Mr Bates vs. the Submit Workplace.

Ms Vennells earned £5.1m throughout her time on the helm of the Submit Workplace, peaking at £718,300 in 2018. That 12 months her base wage was £253,800 and she or he earned £390,800 in bonuses (plus pensions and different advantages).

By her legal professionals, Ms Vennells issued the next assertion: “I remain truly sorry for the suffering caused to sub-postmasters, their families and all those whose lives were torn apart by being… wrongly prosecuted. I continue to fully support and focus on co-operating with the Inquiry.”

Mr Crozier turned the Royal Mail’s chief govt in 2003, following roles as boss of the Soccer Affiliation and the promoting company Saatchi and Saatchi.

He usually drew headlines for his excessive wage – he earned as a lot as £3m in pay and bonuses in 2007-08, elevating the ire of unions protesting concerning the closure of 1000’s of Submit Workplaces.

He made a complete of £9.7m in pay and bonuses in his time at Royal Mail, in addition to a pension valued at £1.1m in 2008. From 2003 to 2009 the Submit Workplace secured greater than 400 convictions in England and Wales utilizing Horizon knowledge, in line with proof launched to the Inquiry.

On the time the Submit Workplace was a part of Royal Mail, however had a separate board which Mr Crozier did not sit on. He stated in an announcement: “While I did not have any involvement in the Horizon issue during my time at Royal Mail, I feel deeply sorry for those whose lives were ruined by what happened.”

He left unexpectedly in 2010 to turn into chief govt of ITV.

Canadian Dame Moya took over in July 2010, and earned a complete of £1.88m earlier than the Royal Mail formally break up with the Submit Workplace.

Mr Smith briefly crammed in as managing director of the Submit Workplace earlier than Ms Vennells, from April to October 2010, earlier than transferring to chief buyer officer of Royal Mail. He was the one who greeted the conviction of Seema Misra, the Postmistress from Surrey who was wrongly jailed whereas pregnant, with the phrases “brilliant news,” in line with proof submitted on the Horizon Inquiry. He was paid £636,000 in 2010-11.

Mr Cook dinner was Submit Workplace managing director from 2006 to 2010. He earned a complete of £3m in that point, together with £1.2m in his ultimate 12 months. He was quoted by his native newspaper, the Milton Keynes Citizen saying he would “never forgive himself” for not understanding that a whole bunch of individuals had been being prosecuted whereas he was in cost. He stated he did not know there have been issues with Horizon till shortly earlier than he left.

In 2010, a long-term bonus scheme paid out to numerous Royal Mail bosses, together with Mr Cook dinner. That 12 months the Submit Workplace convicted 58 individuals in England and Wales.

Mr Mills, a former HSBC banker who based the pioneering phone financial institution First Direct, joined as Submit Workplace chief govt in 2002.

He earned a complete of £1.3m in pay and bonuses over 4 years, peaking at £816,000 within the 12 months he left, 2006, which included £486,000 compensation for lack of workplace.

Mr Roberts, who spent his complete profession on the Submit Workplace, was chief govt for six years, a interval he described as a “rollercoaster ride”.

His time in workplace noticed the disastrous launch of Horizon and the short-lived rebrand to “Consignia”.

From 1999 to his retirement in 2002 he earned £1.2m. In his final 12 months he earned £225,852 together with advantages (with a final-salary pension on prime). He and the finance director Jerry Cope each agreed to waive their wage will increase for 2001-2, citing the “perilous state” of the enterprise. The subsequent 12 months he earned £503,000 which included £119,000 pay in lieu of discover.

John Roberts declined to remark. Alan Cook dinner, Dame Moya Greene, and David Smith didn’t reply to the BBC’s requests for remark.