Paula Vennels – Background
Worked 12 years in total for Post Office
Begin January 2007
Made CEO October 2010
Left CEO April 2019 more than 8 year CEO
Notice: there are 3 other web pages about the inquiry of the Post Office Boss Paula Vennells:
CEO Paula Vennells in Tears at Post Office Inquiry Grilling
Paula Vennells’ Epic Failure: Innocent People Ground Down
Proforma Justice: Horizon IT Disaster – Looking Under the Rock TRANSCRIPT
1 Post Office Inquiry: moment Paula Vennells cries as documents reveal her comments about postmasters
22 mei 2024
Former Post Office CEO Paula Vennells broke down as she was presented with evidence that she had made disparaging remarks about subpostmasters, who’s lives were ruined when they were prosecuted over IT failures at the business.
The inquiry was shown minutes from a meeting between Vennells, Post Office personnel, and MPs, held on June 18, 2012.
Ms Vennells told MPs: “It appears that some subpostmasters have been borrowing money from the Post Office account/till in the same way they might do in a retail business”.
She said there “had not been a case investigated where the Horizon system had been found to be at fault”.
But Mr Beer points out that was not true.
He highlighted three specific cases which subpostmistresses accused of stealing Post Office funds had, by the time of that meeting, been acquitted by juries after blaming Horizon for the issue.
Mr Beer asked: “Why were you telling these parliamentarians every prosecution had found in favour of the Post Office?”
Breaking down in tears, Ms Vennells responded: “I fully accept now that the Post Office knew that.
“Personally, I didn’t know that, and I am incredibly sorry that happen to those people and to so many others.”
2 Messages revealed between ex-Post Office and Royal Mail bosses over Horizon scandal
22 mei 2024
Former Post Office CEO Paula Vennells was in front of the Post Office inquiry where correspondence with the former chief of Royal Mail Moya Greene were revealed.
Texts show the ex-Royal Mail boss admitting she believed Paula Vennells knew about defects in the Horizon system while the Post Office was prosecuting subpostmasters.
Paula Vennells is a British businesswoman and former CEO of the Post Office Limited.
Career Background: Paula Vennells has held several senior positions in various companies before joining the Post Office, including roles at Unilever, L’Oréal, and Whitbread.
Post Office Tenure: She served as the CEO of the Post Office Limited from 2012 to 2019. During her tenure, she was involved in significant restructuring and modernization efforts aimed at transforming the organization into a commercially viable business.
Controversies: Her tenure at the Post Office was marred by the Horizon IT scandal, where hundreds of sub-postmasters were wrongfully accused of theft and fraud due to faults in the Horizon computer system. This scandal led to significant legal battles and public outcry.
Legal and Public Repercussions: Following the Horizon IT scandal, there were calls for accountability, and Vennells faced criticism for her role in the affair. The scandal led to numerous overturned convictions and a settlement for the affected sub-postmasters.
Post-Post Office Career: After leaving the Post Office, Vennells held positions on various boards, including as a non-executive director of Morrisons and an NHS Trust. However, she stepped down from some of these roles in the wake of the Horizon scandal’s fallout.
Education and Early Life: Paula Vennells studied languages at the University of Bradford and later completed a diploma in theology. She was also ordained as an Anglican priest in 2006, reflecting her strong Christian faith.
Recognition and Honors: Despite the controversies, Vennells was awarded a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 2019 for her services to the Post Office and charity.
3 Paula Venells’ Post Office testimony: ‘astonishing announcement of her ignorance’
22 mei 2024
“She was either telling the truth but displaying an incompetence of gargantuan scale, or she was not telling the truth.”
Pauls Vennells’ testimony for the Post Office inquiry was an “astonishing announcement of her ignorance,” says Lord Arbuthnot.
4 EX-Post Office Boss Paula Vennells Faces the Horizon IT Inquiry
Back to menu IMPORTANT CONTENT Listening recommended Must ***
22 mei 2024
Ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells will appear at the Post Office Inquiry today. Last month the inquiry heard how Vennells ignored calls from the organisation’s top management team to halt sub-postmaster prosecutions.
Former postmistress Jo Hamilton will be attending the inquiry, speaking on Paula Vennells’ appearance at the inquiry, Jo said: ‘If there are going to be criminal charges put to her, she may as well tell the truth but I don’t think she will when you have a CEO cloak on you can be as brave as you like, but without that, I don’t see her being brave and truthful at all.’
Broadcast on 22/05/24
5 Ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells cries while giving evidence
22 mei 2024
Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells has cried three times while giving evidence to the inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal.
Sky’s Sarah-Jane Mee is with sub-postmasters in Fenny Compton, Warwickshire – where the push for justice began in 2009.
She looks back at the morning’s events.
6 Post Office scandal: Ex-boss Paula Vennells faces media scrum as she arrives at inquiry
Educational
7 “Sorry Is Not Enough!” Paula Vennells Apologises To Subpostmasters At Post Office Inquiry
22 mei 2024
A Conservative peer, who played a role in helping sub-postmasters convicted in the Post Office scandal get justice, has said “sorry is not enough” after the former boss made an emotional appearance at the Horizon IT inquiry.
Paula Vennells twice broke down in tears mid-evidence, as she was grilled about why she had told MPs that the Post Office had been successful in every case against subpostmasters.
Lord James Arbuthnot was name checked in Ms Vennells’ apology. Joining Talk’s Ian Collins, Lord Arbuthnot says “tears don’t cut it” and adds that “proper accountability must follow” the inquiry, including prosecutions for those involved.
8 Post Office Scandal: Paula Vennells ‘Are you the unluckiest CEO in the United Kingdom’
22 mei 2024 #paulaVennells #postoffice #horizon
Paula Vennells has said she was “too trusting” as she was asked if she was the “unluckiest CEO in the United Kingdom”.
Counsel to the inquiry Jason Beer KC said: “Do you think you are the unluckiest CEO in the United Kingdom?”
Ms Vennells replied: “As the inquiry has heard, there was information I wasn’t given and others didn’t receive as well.
“One of my reflections of all of this – I was too trusting.
“I did probe and I did ask questions and I’m disappointed where information wasn’t shared and it has been a very important time for me… to plug some of those gaps.”
9 What is Ethics?
14 apr 2020
Ethics asks how we should live, what choices we should make and what makes our lives worth living.
It helps us define the conditions of a good choice and then figure out which of all the options available to us is the best one.
Ethics is the process of questioning, discovering and defending our values, principles and purpose. It’s about finding out who we are and staying true to that in the face of temptations, challenges and uncertainty. It’s not always fun and it’s hardly ever easy, but if we commit to it, we set ourselves up to make decisions we can stand by, building a life that’s truly our own and a future we want to be a part of.
For a deeper dive, visit https://ethics.org.au/ethics-unboxed/ and subscribe to our free 5-week introduction to ethics course.
//
ABOUT THE ETHICS CENTRE
The Ethics Centre is an independent not-for-profit that advocates for a more ethical society.
A team of innovators, thought leaders and conveners of people and ideas, we deliver a range of services including innovative programs, consulting, leadership and an ethics helpline designed to bring ethics to the centre of everyday life.
Across our work, we aim to diagnose, prevent and cure the sources of ethical failure, to increase ethical literacy through education and information, and develop tools to empower good decision making.
The Centre’s programs are recognised for stimulating public awareness and understanding, creating a space for open, honest and often difficult conversations.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of The Ethics Centre, and we’re committed to educating, engaging and informing for a better world for the 30 years to come.
10 What is the difference between Ethics, Morality and the Law?
15 apr 2020
The world around us is a smorgasbord of beliefs, claims, rules and norms about how we should live and behave.
It’s important to tease this jumble of ethical pressures apart so we can put them in their proper place. Otherwise, it can be hard to know what to do when some of these requirements contradict others.
Let’s talk about three different categories of demands on how we should live: ethics, morality and law.
For a deeper dive, visit https://ethics.org.au/ethics-unboxed/ and subscribe to our free 5-week introduction to ethics course.
//
ABOUT THE ETHICS CENTRE
The Ethics Centre is an independent not-for-profit that advocates for a more ethical society.
A team of innovators, thought leaders and conveners of people and ideas, we deliver a range of services including original programs, consulting, leadership and an ethics helpline designed to bring ethics to the centre of everyday life.
Across our work, we aim to diagnose, prevent and cure the sources of ethical failure, to increase ethical literacy through education and information, and develop tools to empower good decision making.
The Centre’s programs are recognised for stimulating public awareness and understanding, creating a space for open, honest and often difficult conversations.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of The Ethics Centre, and we’re committed to educating, engaging and informing for a better world for the 30 years to come.
11 Former Post Office boss breaks down at inquiry
22 mei 2024
Paula Vennells is giving evidence to the Post Office public inquiry — the first time she has spoken in public about the Horizon IT scandal in close to ten years.
Between 1999 and 2015, nearly 1,000 postmasters were prosecuted on the basis of data from the faulty accounting software, and thousands more were forced out of their businesses, bankrupted or asked to pay back cash.
12 Post Office Inquiry LIVE: Watch former CEO Paula Vennells give evidence
The inquiry will hear evidence from the former group chief executive officer of Post Office Ltd, who is listed to appear for three days.
13 Post Office Scandal: Paula Vennells upset again when asked about shutting down the mediation scheme
22 mei 2024
Paula Vennells became emotional for a second time as she was asked about shutting down the Mediation Scheme for subpostmasters.
14 “Who Should Be Made To PAY?” | Paula Vennells Apologises To Postmasters
22 mei 2024
Disgraced ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells has admitted she “made mistakes” but denied there was a conspiracy to cover up the Horizon scandal.
The 65-year-old ordained priest began her evidence at the Horizon IT inquiry on Wednesday by apologising for “all that subpostmasters and families have suffered”.
Tory MP Paul Scully joins Talk’s Alex Phillips to discuss this further.
15 Post Office Scandal: Paula Vennells laughed at by the gallery over ironic ‘problem’
16 Watch Again: Paula Vennells gives evidence at Post Office Horizon IT inquiry
22 mei 2024
Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells has apologised to postmasters and their families who “suffered” from the Horizon IT scandal as she began her evidence to the inquiry.
The disgraced ex-chief executive was sworn in after being mobbed by photographers and journalists as she made her way to the hearing in central London, where she is set to be questioned under oath across three days.
Hundreds of subpostmasters were prosecuted by the business between 1999 and 2015 after Horizon, owned by Japanese company Fujitsu, made it appear as though money was missing at their branches.
17 ‘HOW Could You Not Have Known?’ | Former Post Office Boss Paula Vennells Grilled At Horizon Inquiry
22 mei 2024
Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells is quizzed today on her role in the Horizon scandal.
The disgraced ex-chief executive is beginning her three days of evidence to the Horizon IT inquiry amid claims she covered-up the Post Office’s knowledge of bugs in the faulty accounting software.
The inquiry is shown text messages between Ms Vennells and former Royal Mail boss Dame Moya Greene, thought to be from around January this year, in which the latter says: “I think you knew” about the problems with the Horizon system.
Asked why she does not answer Dame Moya’s question about how she could not have known, Ms Vennells tells the inquiry today: “I didn’t not answer that question; I was very concerned because I was aware that it was not good practice to be exchanging texts in the middle of an inquiry.
“It wasn’t that I should or shouldn’t have answered her question.”
18 Post Office Scandal: Did you adopt a wait and see approach to see what you have got to admit
22 mei 2024
Paula Vennells said her reflections when giving evidence will demonstrate her “deep remorse” in her first witness statement for the Horizon IT inquiry.
In her statement dated March 8 2024, Ms Vennells said with hindsight “there are many things I and the Post Office should have done differently”.
She said: “As a result of my commitment to this statement and to the work of the inquiry, which has been my priority, I have had much to consider. With the benefit of hindsight, there are many things I and the Post Office should have done differently.
“I am now reflecting with care on these matters and I will expand upon them and answer them as fully as possible when I give my evidence to the inquiry in May.
“Those reflections will demonstrate my deep remorse. They will set out the lessons I have since learnt.”
19 ‘HOW Could You Not Have Known?’ | Former Post Office Boss Paula Vennells Grilled At Horizon Inquiry
22 mei 2024
Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells is quizzed today on her role in the Horizon scandal.
The disgraced ex-chief executive is beginning her three days of evidence to the Horizon IT inquiry amid claims she covered-up the Post Office’s knowledge of bugs in the faulty accounting software.
The inquiry is shown text messages between Ms Vennells and former Royal Mail boss Dame Moya Greene, thought to be from around January this year, in which the latter says: “I think you knew” about the problems with the Horizon system.
Asked why she does not answer Dame Moya’s question about how she could not have known, Ms Vennells tells the inquiry today: “I didn’t not answer that question; I was very concerned because I was aware that it was not good practice to be exchanging texts in the middle of an inquiry.
“It wasn’t that I should or shouldn’t have answered her question.”
20 Post Office scandal: former CEO admits evidence was false
22 mei 2024
Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells has begun giving evidence at the Horizon inquiry.
The ex-CEO broke down in tears four times during her testimony.
Almost a thousand subpostmasters were wrongly prosecuted and many believe Ms Vennells was at the heart of an orchestrated cover-up.
But much of her defence today focused around shifting blame, and in her words, being too trusting.
21 Ian Collins Asks: “Should The CEO Always Take Ultimate Responsibility?”
22 mei 2024
As Paula Vennells takes the stand at the Post Office inquiry, Ian Collins asks: “Should the CEO always take ultimate responsibility?”
She stopped mid-answer and reached for a tissue as she was grilled about why she had told MPs that the Post Office had been successful in every case against subpostmasters.
The 65-year-old ordained priest also became visibly upset as the inquiry looked into the Post Office’s response to the suicide of subpostmaster Martin Griffiths in 2013.
As she gave evidence on Wednesday, Ms Vennells admitted she “made mistakes” but denied there was a conspiracy to cover up the scandal.
Ian says: “She provided over an injustice so big that innocent people were sent to jail… some even taking their lives.”
22 Post Office scandal: former CEO admits evidence was false
22 mei 2024
The subpostmasters whose lives were ruined by the Post Office Horizon scandal have waited many years for today.
We joined two of them, as they watched former Post Office CEO, Paula Vennells give evidence to the ongoing inquiry.
23 Post Office Inquiry: Laughter as Vennells is challenged over her ‘odd’ apprach before talking to MPs
Back to menu IMPORTANT CONTENT Listening recommended Must ***
22 mei 2024
Counsel to the inquiry Jason Beer KC accused Paula Vennells of adopting an “odd” approach before speaking to MPs.
In 2015, she told MPs on the the business select committee that she had seen no evidence of miscarriages of justice and that there were no faults in the Horizon system.
On Wednesday, the inquiry was told of an email Ms Vennells sent before the select committee hearing saying she needed to tell MPs “it is not possible” to access Horizon remotely. Counsel to the inquiry Jason Beer KC asked why she needed to say remote access was not possible.
Ms Vennells responded:”I phrased this point very specifically and I can remember why I did this.
“Alice Perkins, not related to this particularly, but I can remember Alice Perkins saying to me at some stage, ‘Paula if you want to get the truth and a really clear answer from somebody, you should tell them what it is you want to say very clearly and then ask for the information that backs that up’, that was why I phrased this that way.”
Mr Beer said:”That’s an odd way of going about things, isn’t it? ‘I want to know the answer to the question, here’s the answer to the question, tell me I’m wrong’.”
Ms Vennells added: “Well yes, I hoped they would do….I believed this was absolutely the case, I had an obligation going before the select committee to be able to share the information that I knew and be able to answer their questions correctly and this is what I was trying to ask for from the team. I was not in any way, if you’re suggesting this, trying to tell them what the answer should be.”
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24 Watch Again: Paula Vennells gives evidence at Post Office Horizon IT inquiry
Watch live as the former Post Office CEO testifies at the Horizon IT inquiry which is investigating why hundreds of subpostmasters were wrongfully convicted of fraud due to an IT fault.
Educationl: IMPORTANT
25 “Don’t Believe She Knows The Meaning Of Hard Work At All” | Post Office Scandal Victim Slams Ex-Boss
23 mei 2024 #talktv #postoffice
Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells has broken her almost decade-long silence on the Horizon scandal as she was quizzed on how things unfolded on her watch.
During her evidence to the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry, Ms Vennells cut an emotional figure as she broke down twice under questioning from counsel to the inquiry Jason Beer KC.
Sone of wrongly convicted postmaster Varchas Patel joins Talk’s Mike Graham to discuss this further.
26 Post Office Inquiry: Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells gives evidence – Day 2
3 uur geleden begonnen met streamen
Watch live as Paula Vennells, the former Group Chief Executive Officer of Post Office Ltd – gives evidence at the Post Office inquiry.
Former chief executive Ms Vennells was at the helm of the government-owned body during the key Horizon operating years of 2012 to 2019.
She’s been regularly referenced in the inquiry, set up to establish a clear account of the introduction and failure of Fujitsu’s Horizon accounting software.
27 Alan Bates tells inquiry the Post Office lied for ’23 years to discredit and silence me’
10 apr 2024
Paula Vennells failed to tell MPs about 16 examples which undermined the reliability of #Horizon, Lord Arbuthnot said.
The inquiry was shown notes from a meeting attended by Post Office executives and several MPs in June 2012 – including the then-Tory MP.
Notes taken by Lord Arbuthnot’s staff describe how Ms Vennells, who attended in person, the then-Post Office chief executive described the accountancy software as “very secure”
28 Post Office Inquiry: Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells gives evidence – Day 2
3 uur geleden begonnen met streamen
Watch live as Paula Vennells, the former Group Chief Executive Officer of Post Office Ltd – gives evidence at the Post Office inquiry.
Former chief executive Ms Vennells was at the helm of the government-owned body during the key Horizon operating years of 2012 to 2019.
She’s been regularly referenced in the inquiry, set up to establish a clear account of the introduction and failure of Fujitsu’s Horizon accounting software.
29 Alan Bates tells inquiry the Post Office lied for ’23 years to discredit and silence me’
Back to menu IMPORTANT CONTENT Listening recommended Must ***
9 apr 2024
Former sub-postmaster Alan Bates has told the Horizon IT inquiry that the Post Office was determined to protect its brand at all costs.
He said the Post Office spent 23 years trying to “discredit and silence” him after he raised concerns with the accounting software, just months after it was introduced.
Educationl: IMPORTANT
30 Post Office Scandal: Gasps at Paula Vennell answer over historic subpostmaster convictions
23 mei 2024
Gasps from the gallery as Paula Vennells says she didn’t recall taking the advice of a PR Guide over whether the Post Office should look into historic subpostmasters cases.
Chairman Sir Wyn Williams had to intervene.
31 “I Don’t Believe Her!” Kevin O’Sullivan’s SLAMS Paula Vennells’ Post Office IT Probe
Back to menu IMPORTANT CONTENT Listening recommended Must ***
23 mei 2024 #postoffice #kevinosullivan #paulavennells
Talk’s Kevin O’Sullivan reacts to Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells breaking her almost decade-long silence on the Horizon scandal as she was quizzed on how things unfolded on her watch.
She stopped mid-answer and reached for a tissue as she was grilled about why she had told MPs that the Post Office had been successful in every case against subpostmasters.
The 65-year-old ordained priest also became visibly upset as the inquiry looked into the Post Office’s response to the suicide of subpostmaster Martin Griffiths in 2013.
As she gave evidence on Wednesday, Ms Vennells admitted she “made mistakes” but denied there was a conspiracy to cover up the scandal.
Kevin says: “Give her an Oscar”.
32 Post Office suicide – Paula Vennells breaks down during inquiry
22 mei 2024
Paula Vennells is giving evidence to the Post Office public inquiry — the first time she has spoken in public about the Horizon IT scandal in close to ten years.
Between 1999 and 2015, nearly 1,000 postmasters were prosecuted on the basis of data from the faulty accounting software, and thousands more were forced out of their businesses, bankrupted or asked to pay back cash.
33 About 100 sub-postmaster convictions separate to Post Office cases may be ‘tainted’
17 mei 2024
Prosecutions of sub-postmasters by the Department for Work and Pensions could be “tainted”, a Sky News investigation has found, as officials worked with now discredited Post Office investigators to secure convictions.
Around 100 prosecutions of Post Office staff were led by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) between 2001 and 2006.
It is understood that these usually involved the cashing in of stolen order books.
34 Post Office’s former most senior lawyer ‘doesn’t recall’ meeting on convicted pregnant postmistress
23 apr 2024 #inquiry #postoffice #conviction
Convicting pregnant postmistress hoped to curb ‘Horizon bashing’, the Post Office inquiry has heard.
Seema Misra, a former sub-postmaster, was eight weeks pregnant when found guilty of false accounting and theft in 2010.
An email from Jarnail Singh, a Post Office lawyer, referring to Ms Misra was shown to the inquiry on Tuesday. It said: “It is hoped the case will set a marker to dissuade other defendants from jumping on the Horizon bashing bandwagon.”
Susan Crichton, the Post Office’s former most senior in-house lawyer, confirmed she received the email in Oct 2010, but claimed she didn’t remember any further discussions around the case.
35 Post Office inquiry: Paula Vennells caught out by her own email
23 mei 2024
Paula Vennells is giving evidence for a second day at the Post Office inquiry after breaking down in the witness box three times on Wednesday.
The former chief executive of the Post Office blamed senior colleagues for failing to give her the unvarnished reality of the Horizon system and the company’s history of prosecutions, but the leading campaigner Lord Arbuthnot said she was either “not telling the truth” or incompetent.
36 Alcoholic Barista with Shaky Hands
12 dec 2018
This barista just can’t stop dripping coffee everywhere. That is, until he has a little alcohol in his system