Summary from 2015-2016:
Summary from 2016-2017:
3. In the period from end March 2016 to date only 3 whistleblowing reports have been
received. This seems low, although previous years have not had materially more reports:
3 in 2014-15, and 7 in 2015-16.
4. The reports in the current year related to the following:
• A report was made to the FCA by an individual who was concerned that it appeared to
be a normal practice for staff at a specific branch to be able to initiate transactions under
a single log-in. The FCA referred the concern to Bank of Ireland. Bank of Ireland
requested Post Office’s assistance to respond to the complaint. POL provided a response
to BoI as to the required Horizon protocols and there has been no follow up from the FCA
or BoI.
• An anonymous report was made to the Speak Up line expressing concern as to the
software procurement practices at Post Office. The CIO and Head of
Procurement were asked to review the software procurement processes and confirm that
they were satisfied that the processes are appropriate so as to ensure that requirements
are properly scoped and relevant procurement processes followed. Their advice was that
while anomalies will always occur, and the processes are cumbersome, overall they
believe the processes are sufficiently robust.
• An anonymous report was made recently to the Security Team directly regarding
certain practices being followed by the postmaster in a specified agency branch. As this
report was only received a few days ago, it is still being investigated by the Financial
Crime and security teams.
In comparison to 2017/18, unethical behaviour or conduct increased from 13% to
19% and breach of internal policies and procedures increased from 14% to 21%.
• There were no reports of Money Laundering, Bribery or Corruption in 2018/19
• Majority of reports made about a Postmaster were allegations of fraud or
financial mismanagement.
• Majority of allegations of unethical behaviour or conduct were made against
Post Office employees.
In the last 2 years, the most popular channels used to report concerns were the
Speak Up line and Grapevine.
