The Government is considering exonerating former sub-postmasters involved in the Post Office's Horizon scandal.
This involved hundreds of workers being falsely accused of theft and fraud due to a faulty IT system.
More than 700 people were prosecuted between 1999 and 2015, with some jailed and others suffering huge financial consequences.
At least four people took their lives in the fallout from the scandal.
Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells said she will hand back her CBE with immediate effect after a petition was signed by more than a million people.
The scandal gripped the British public following the ITV drama series Mr Bates vs The Post Office, which began on New Year’s Day.
Given that the scandal has been brought to the public’s attention once again, many people may be wondering: who owns the Post Office and who was in charge during the Horizon scandal?
Here are the answers.
Who owns the Post Office?
The Post Office is owned by the Government, which means it is a public corporation. It separated from Royal Mail when the latter was privatised. The Post Office and Royal Mail had been part of the same entity, known as the Royal Mail Group.
The Post Office provides a range of postal and financial services to the public. It is the largest retail network in the UK, with more than 11,500 branches.
Nearly all post offices are franchised in partnership with independent business owners and other retail partners.
The chief executive is Nick Read, who joined the Post Office in 2019. He has previously worked at Tesco, Vodafone, HBOS, Lloyds Banking Group and Thomas Cook.
Who was in charge of the Post Office during the Horizon IT scandal?
Paula Vennells was the CEO of the Post Office between 2012 and 2019. The initial Post Office investigation began in 2012.
A petition hosted on 38 Degrees, which has been signed by more than 1.2 million people, claims: “Paula Vennells has subsequently refused to answer questions from these staff as well as the media and has refused to apologise for the cover-up, misery and trauma caused which has brought not only herself but the Post Office, the honours system and Government into disrepute.”
Who was in Government at the time?
Labour was in Government when the Post Office scandal began. Tony Blair became prime minister in 1997 and was in power until 2007 when Gordon Brown replaced him.
In 2010, the Conservatives came into power. However, they did not secure an outright majority in the general election.
The Tories entered into a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats, and David Cameron became the prime minister. The coalition government lasted until 2015, when the Tories won a majority in the general election held on May 7, 2015.
The Conservatives have been in power ever since, with several prime ministers: Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and currently Rishi Sunak.
