Post Office compensation chief let go after criticism by Sir Alan Bates
The Post Office director responsible for compensating victims of the Horizon scandal has been let go amid criticism of the process by Sir Alan Bates, The Telegraph can disclose.
Simon Recaldin, who headed up the Post Office’s Remediation Unit, is understood to have taken voluntary redundancy and left the organisation earlier this week.
His departure comes ahead of the expected publication of the first part of a public inquiry report into the scandal, which will examine the compensation process and the impact on victims.
Sir Alan, whose efforts to uncover the truth about Horizon, featured in an acclaimed ITV drama, criticised the overall compensation process last month and accused the Government of presiding over a “quasi kangaroo court”.
On Friday, a Post Office spokesman said Mr Recaldin’s departure was a result of a review of its operating model and a subsequent “Post Office-wide organisational design exercise”.
The Telegraph understands that Joanne Hanley, who worked at Lloyds Banking Group for more than 20 years, is now covering a large part of Mr Recaldin’s previous work.
Before leaving for the Post Office, Ms Hanley was a managing director and global head of client servicing, data and operations for Lloyds’ corporate markets.
More than 900 sub-postmasters were wrongfully prosecuted between 1999 and 2015, when Fujitsu’s faulty Horizon software incorrectly suggested that they were stealing money.
A public inquiry into the scandal finished hearing evidence in December 2024 and the first part of the report is expected to be published in the coming weeks.
Sir Alan has been highly critical of the various compensation schemes, which he described as “quasi-kangaroo courts” in The Sunday Times last month.
Speaking to The Telegraph on Friday, Sir Alan said: “It’s not so much as throwing out the people working on the scheme, it’s more about throwing out the schemes – that would be my preference.
“We have got serious concerns about the transparency and the parity across the schemes.”
Sir Alan, who won a High Court battle against the Post Office in 2019, said his latest compensation offer was on a “take it or leave it” basis and amounted to less than half of his original claim.
The campaigner and more than 500 other sub-postmasters who joined him in a court action have to apply for compensation through the Group Litigation Order scheme, now administered by the Government .
Separately, the Post Office runs the Horizon Shortfall Scheme, set up for victims who were neither involved in the compensation scheme nor convicted as a result of false shortfalls.
Mr Recaldin, who attended the inquiry for the second time in November last year to give evidence in its final phase, apologised when it emerged that staff involved in Horizon prosecutions were given jobs managing compensation claims .
A former NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland manager, he took on the position as head of the then-Historical Matters Business Unit in January 2022.
When asked about former Post Office investigators, he told the inquiry: “So my regret – and it is a genuine regret – is that when I came in, in January 2022, that I didn’t do that conflicts check, check back on my inherited team, and challenge that.
“And that I absolutely apologise for, because I think that’s something that should have been done.”
A Post Office spokesman said: “As part of the Post Office’s commitment to deliver a ‘new deal for postmasters’, we have undertaken a review of our operating model to ensure we have the right structure in place.
“We have been in consultation with a number of colleagues from across the business, including the Remediation Unit. As a result of this Post Office-wide organisational design exercise, Simon Recaldin has left the business.”
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