Understanding the impacts of the PO Scandal

We have published a report

Our report “Understanding the Impacts of the Post Office Scandal” was published yesterday (It is here as WP10). We held a meeting with subpostmasters, -mistresses, and family members.

The report seeks to tell the story of how the Scandal has impacted those accused, sued, sacked, and prosecuted. Of course, this is am impossible task, there is too much to tell, but we have sought to present the essence of many stories in one place.

I want to pay a little tribute to my colleagues, who lead, executed and wrote this work with incredible care and empathy. As I read drafts, I don’t mind saying, rather used to the awful histories as I am, I found it very harrowing. The journey from the trauma of accusation, through stigma, isolation, anxiety and depression and the way these patterns played out on and in family members, parents, partners and children, is heart-breaking. In one sense, one simple, sad comment we have heard from many SPMs repeatedly, captures the drift. “I am a different person now.”

And of course, I hope the tales of how law and legal processes can drive harm are taken seriously by lawyers everywhere. As I said in the Hamlyn’s, harm has to be taken seriously by lawyers; they should not just brush it off as the price of doing business.

We took the report to Parliament to discuss with SPMs and interested politicians. A great many thanks to the them all for a fascinating afternoon, which ended up in one question, how to change the culture of defensiveness that infects public life and organisations. A little more on that another day.

And finally a word of thanks to all those victim-survivors of the post office scandal who have shared their stories with us. Thank you for trusting us. And to everyone who came yesterday, in person and online, thank you for all your thoughts. There are several contributions that will live with me a long time. One SPM had a quiet word with me yesterday. As terrible as the experiences had been, they said, in a way, it had changed them for the better.

There is, I think , a lot to learn from all of them.

Read Day, Nokes, Moorhead, Helm (2025) Understanding the Impacts of the Post Office Scandal here.