Post Office Losses due to Out of Date Lottery Cards

Alan Bates (JFSA) made this Freedom of Information request to Post Office Limited This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

The request was partially successful.

Alan Bates (JFSA)

Dear Post Office Limited,

At the end of a six month investigation in October 2013 Detica Limited, part of BAE Systems, produced a 51 page report entitled 'Fraud and Non-conformance in the Post Office; Challenges and Recommendations - G-119 Fraud Analysis' which was referred to during a High Court litigation action last year.

Point 5.1.1.4 of that report deals with 'Overstocking', and one of the findings in that section states:-

'Scratch cards have a sell by date imposed by the lottery operator; any scratch card
entered by the branch into Horizon is effectively owned by the Post Office and
cannot be returned to the operator. Once the sell by date has been exceeded the
lottery cards cannot be sold with the Post Office effectively sitting on a loss.'

Would you please answer the following questions in relation to that finding;

Has Post Office ever actually suffered a loss from lottery cards exceeding their sell by dates?
If such losses were incurred, were they itemised and recorded?
Please provide the recorded loss figures to Post Office for lottery cards due to an exceeded sell by date for each of the years from 2006 to 2014.
Has a Subpostmaster ever been held financially liable for a loss from lottery cards exceeding their sell by dates (whether or not those had been activated on the branch’s Horizon system prior to that sell by date)?

Yours faithfully,

Alan Bates (JFSA)

Information Rights Team, Post Office Limited

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Bates,

Please find an acknowledgement attached to your Freedom of Information
Request.

Regards,

Kerry Moodie

Information Rights Team

Ground Floor

Finsbury Dials

20 Finsbury Street

London EC2Y 9AQ

0333 665 3951

Information Rights Team, Post Office Limited

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Bates

Please find an update attached to your Freedom of Information request

Regards

Kerry Moodie

Information Rights Team

20 Finsbury Street

London EC2Y 9AQ

Tel: 0333 665 3951

Email: [1][Post Office request email]

References

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1. mailto:[Post Office request email]

Information Rights Team, Post Office Limited

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Bates,

Please find the response attached to your Freedom of Information request.

Regards,

Kerry Moodie

Information Rights Team

Ground Floor

Finsbury Dials

20 Finsbury Street

London EC2Y 9AQ

0333 665 3951