Post Office probe into non-executive director involves bullying allegations

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A Post Office investigation into one of its non-executive directors involves allegations of bullying, according to two people with knowledge of the situation.

Saf Ismail is one of two sub-postmasters who sit on the state-owned delivery group’s board as non-executive directors. On Monday he said that he was under investigation and had stepped back from the Post Office board without disclosing the nature of the probe.

The investigation relates to allegations over Ismail’s behaviour towards post office branch staff, the people said. Ismail runs seven post offices across Manchester and Lancashire.

Video footage related to the allegation has been shared with the Post Office, and the board met to discuss the situation last week, the people added.

A lawyer for Ismail said it would be inappropriate for her client to comment as an investigation is ongoing. A Post Office spokesperson said that the company never discusses individuals and takes “allegations of misconduct seriously and these are thoroughly investigated through fair and established processes”.

Ismail was appointed to the Post Office board in 2021 as part of the company’s efforts to recover from the Horizon IT scandal.

The Post Office said at the time that it was a “key milestone in the sustained reset of the relationship between Post Office and Postmasters”.

Ismail confirmed to the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry that the investigation into him was unrelated to Horizon or discrepancies. 

The inquiry is examining how more than 900 sub-postmasters were convicted using faulty data from an IT system.

The IT affair was brought to wider public attention by an ITV drama series this year that triggered an outcry and resulted in legislation to exonerate convicted sub-postmasters en masse.

Ismail told the inquiry this week that he and the other sub-postmaster on its board, Elliot Jacobs, did not feel welcome by some senior executives.

He also said that he had been told by a former colleague that chief executive Nick Read did not want the two of them on the top panel because they were “too awkward, too challenging”.

Ismail claimed that he was informed that he and Jacobs, who owns a number of post office branches in London, were excluded from meetings that discussed topics such as bonuses and salaries.

The Post Office inquiry, which was established in 2020, is in its seventh and final phase. The last chapter of the hearing will examine current practice and procedures at the state-owned organisation and recommendations for the future.

Read announced his resignation last week and will step down in March. He will be replaced by interim chief operating officer Neil Brocklehurst.