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Submit Workplace chief government Nick Learn has resigned following a four-year stint overshadowed by the fallout from one of many UK’s most severe miscarriages of justice, with lots of of workers wrongfully convicted due to IT issues that the organisation denied.
The state-owned group mentioned on Wednesday that Learn, who was made chief government in September 2019, had determined to step down in March subsequent yr. He will probably be changed by interim chief working officer Neil Brocklehurst earlier than a everlasting appointment is made.
Learn has been questioned a number of instances in the course of the public inquiry into the scandal, during which greater than 900 sub-postmasters have been convicted primarily based on defective knowledge from the Submit Workplace’s Horizon IT system.
A gaggle of greater than 500 sub-postmasters took authorized motion in opposition to the Submit Workplace, successful a settlement in 2019 and opening the way in which for a ruling in 2021 that resulted in some sub-postmasters having their convictions overturned.
The scandal was delivered to wider public consideration by an ITV drama sequence this yr that triggered an outcry and resulted in laws to exonerate victims en-masse.
Though the scandal started earlier than Learn took cost, he has been repeatedly criticised for a way he has dealt with it and likewise for accepting bonuses whereas sub postmasters, a lot of whom confronted severe monetary difficulties due to the Submit Workplace, struggled to get compensation.
Learn, a former boss of the grocery store chain Nisa, was final yr compelled to repay a few of his £455,000 bonus from 2021-22 after the group was accused of deceptive the general public inquiry.
Earlier this yr, the previous chair of the Submit Workplace, Henry Staunton, accused Learn of bullying the enterprise’s former human sources director. An exterior investigation cleared Learn of all misconduct allegations.
Sir Alan Bates, lead campaigner for the sub postmaster victims, advised the Monetary Instances that Learn was “leaping ship” earlier than the general public inquiry had printed its last findings.
Richard Trinder, chair of the marketing campaign group Voice of the Postmaster, mentioned Learn’s departure would assist the enterprise transfer on. “We have to draw a line within the sand,” he mentioned.
The Submit Workplace mentioned Learn would proceed to present proof to the general public inquiry “in a private capability”.
Learn mentioned: “It has been an ideal privilege to work with colleagues and postmasters in the course of the previous 5 years in what has been a very difficult time.”
