The Post Office scandal is a shocking example of how arms-length bodies allow government to escape accountability
The Post Office scandal is a shocking example of how arms-length bodies allow government to escape accountability, writes Matthew Lesh
ITV’s hit drama about the sub-postmaster scandal Mr Bates vs The Post Office is gut-wrenching television. It’s a David and Goliath story that pits local shop owners, stalwarts of their community, against a broken computer programme and powerful institutional forces.
Sub-postmasters are repeatedly told that they owe money to the Post Office, are the only ones, and are then viciously prosecuted for wrongdoing that never happened. This scandal ruined lives on an industrial scale.
The most shocking part of the affair is not a failure of Fujitsu’s Horizon system; computer systems malfunction. Nor is it even that the Post Office acted so aggressively; organisations are generally unwilling to admit faults.
The real shock is that individuals in positions of authority repeatedly ignored warnings, allowing the situation to carry on for almost two decades. The most prominent case to emerge is Lib Dem leader Ed Davey, the then-postal affairs minister, who in 2010 refused to meet with Alan Bates, the former subpostmaster who was instrumental in exposing the Horizon scandal. Davey said in a letter that the “Post Office Horizon system is an operational and contractual matter for POL [Post Office Ltd] and not government”.
Davey has said he was following the advice of officials. Indeed, Bates received similar responses from ministers across parties, who highlighted the Post Office’s independence from government and parroted the line that Horizon had no systematic problems.
Post Office Limited is an arms-length body, a private company limited by shares. Yet it is state-owned, delivers an important service and can exercise extensive state powers of criminal prosecution. This structure is no accident. It’s a feature, not a bug, of how the modern state operates.
The UK has over 550 agencies, public bodies, non-ministerial departments and public corporations. This ranges from the Architects Registration Board and Pubs Code Adjudicator to the Office for Budget Responsibility and Ofcom. There’s some practical necessity for arms-length bodies. As the size and scale of the modern state has expanded, it would be impossible for ministers to direct everything in their remit.
But this structure also brings an added bonus for politicians: playing the blame game. If, and inevitably when, things go wrong, it becomes an easy excuse to say, “Not my problemo, champ, speak to someone else”.
In theory, the Westminster system dictates that these bodies are accountable through elected representatives, who hold ministers to account. In practice, there is far too much for anyone to keep up. The higher profile arms-length bodies get some occasional political and media attention, but generally speaking, most can go about their business and nobody ever holds them to account.
The problems are not often of the scale of the Post Office scandal. Nevertheless, every day, in small and big ways, these bodies are spending taxpayer money and intervening in our lives. They inevitably make mistakes, causing big and small issues.
A government that does less and leaves more to the private sector, who are accountable to customers, shareholders and competitors, is one way to begin addressing these issues. A smaller state could also be more focused and responsive. At the very least, it would struggle to hide wrongdoing like Horizon if there were fewer other activities.
The Post Office scandal has hit a nerve precisely because it speaks to a broader feeling that the system is unresponsive. There are hundreds of other public bodies that act with impunity – it’s time for some greater accountability.