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

How a lot did the folks working the Publish Workplace receives a commission whereas the flawed Horizon system was in place?

By wanting by the corporate accounts for the Publish Workplace and Royal Mail, the BBC has give you a determine – £19.4m over 24 years.

Earlier than 2012, Royal Mail and the Publish Workplace have 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 attributable to seem at Horizon Inquiry which resumes on 9 April.

From 2012 onwards, the chief executives of the separated Publish 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 common boss of Britain’s 100 largest listed firms earned in 2022.

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

The Publish Workplace argues that it’s a very giant, 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 Publish 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, a couple of months after 550 sub-postmasters gained a dramatic Excessive Courtroom victory.

He agreed a a lot increased 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 may have made due to the pandemic, the Horizon Inquiry, and the monetary efficiency of the enterprise.

Because of this 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 may need hoped to earn.

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

Ms Vennells took over as Publish Workplace managing director in 2010, and stayed within the high 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 Courtroom.

A component-time Church of England vicar, she grew to become some of the recognisable faces of the scandal, that includes prominently within the ITV drama Mr Bates vs. the Publish Workplace.

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

By way of her attorneys, Ms Vennells issued the next assertion: “I stay really sorry for the struggling brought on to sub-postmasters, their households and all these whose lives have been torn aside by being… wrongly prosecuted. I proceed to totally assist and give attention to co-operating with the Inquiry.”

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

He commonly 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 hundreds of Publish Places of work.

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 Publish Workplace secured greater than 400 convictions in England and Wales utilizing Horizon information, based on proof launched to the Inquiry.

On the time the Publish Workplace was a part of Royal Mail, however had a separate board which Mr Crozier did not sit on. He stated in an announcement: “Whereas I didn’t have any involvement within the Horizon concern throughout my time at Royal Mail, I really feel deeply sorry for these whose lives have been ruined by what occurred.”

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 cut up with the Publish Workplace.

Mr Smith briefly stuffed in as managing director of the Publish Workplace earlier than Ms Vennells, from April to October 2010, earlier than shifting 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 “sensible information,” based on proof submitted on the Horizon Inquiry. He was paid £636,000 in 2010-11.

Mr Cook dinner was Publish Workplace managing director from 2006 to 2010. He earned a complete of £3m in that point, together with £1.2m in his closing 12 months. He was quoted by his native newspaper, the Milton Keynes Citizen saying he would “by no means forgive himself” for not realizing that a whole lot of individuals have 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 plenty of Royal Mail bosses, together with Mr Cook dinner. That 12 months the Publish Workplace convicted 58 folks in England and Wales.

Mr Mills, a former HSBC banker who based the pioneering phone financial institution First Direct, joined as Publish 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 Publish Workplace, was chief govt for six years, a interval he described as a “rollercoaster journey”.

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 high). 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.