The astonishing cruelty of the Post Office to its workforce, many of whom were sent to gaol as a result of a faulty IT system their employer found it convenient to ignore, continues to be unresolved. There are many people still waiting for compensation and families still suffering trauma from events that date back as far as 1999.
Make Good: The Post Office Scandal, directed by Elle While, illustrates through brief dramatic scenes interspersed with songs something of that trauma through the fictional characters Elsie, Indira and Mohandas whose stories are derived from many victims.
Ed Gaughan opens the show with a friendly, amusing welcome to the audience telling us we will be joining the company in a song later with the chorus lines of “What is Age”, and then he gives us a short practice run. Almost all the songs are accompanied by sixteen members of Raise the Roof, the Carnegie Community Choir based in Herne Hill, who sit in the front two rows until they join the actors on stage at the end of the performance.
Settling into the drama, Ed plays Alan Bates at his first meeting in 2009 with over 30 ex-sub-postmasters and mistresses in the village of Fenny Compton. The actors playing Elsie (Victoria Brazier), Indira (Charlotte Delima) and Mohandas (Samuel Gosrani) emerge from the audience and introduce themselves to Alan. The event leads to them setting up the Justice for Sub-postmasters Alliance (JFSA).
Their individual stories illustrate phases in the trauma. First is the cavalier delivery of the new Horizon IT system with barely any support. As the system chalks up accounting anomalies, the sub-postmasters find it impossible to get any help. The supposedly useful audit team is shown to be more like a roving police force who say they will take away the keys and close the post office preventing the “Wednesday rollover” unless the fictional Horizon figures match the money in the safe.
When one of the three is called in for a meeting, the trade body for those working tells them they don’t need anyone with them, which is unfortunate since the meeting is with people who call themselves “The police of the Post Office”, who suspend them. A barrister tells Elsie, preparing for a court hearing, that she needs to plead guilty because she “rolled over on a Wednesday” when the figures weren’t correct. She is warned that if she doesn’t plead guilty, she may go to prison and the Post Office will confiscate everything she owns.
The knock-on effects of these events include the shame employees feel back home in the village where their supposed dishonesty has resulted in post office closure along with the distress of their own families. But there are more hopeful moments, such as the forensic accountants at Second Sight revealing flaws in the IT system, despite the Post Office refusing to accept their findings and sacking them. We also see the success of the group taking the Post Office to court and winning £58,000 though £48,000 was deducted for the cost of the barristers, and by that time, one of our characters had died.
The dramatically powerful storylines reinforced by songs such as “Shame" and “You Are Not the Only One” are engaging and entertaining in ways that encourage the audience to feel part of a community. The event was followed by a panel discussion that included one ex-postmaster who suffered from the scandal and journalist Nick Wallis, author of “The Great Post Office Scandal”.
One of the speakers pointed out that at the time of the scandal, the Post Office was trying to save money by closing down many of its local offices but was deterred by the cost of paying compensation, something they avoided if it was closed due to misconduct by the staff. We are also told that not only did many victims of the scandal lose all their money and homes, but this money then became the basis of bonuses for many of those who caused the scandal.
Nick argued it isn’t enough to “have whistle-blowers... You also need a big stick.” As for who will be punished for what happened? Despite evidence of fraud and perjury at high levels, he feels that “it will be middle managers who get done… and if it wasn’t for the television drama, there wouldn’t be anything.”
The show continues its grand tour of village halls, art centres and theatres into December, linking up with a local choir in every venue.
Last month, Alan Bates wrote to Prime Minister Starmer about the continuing delay in clearing the names and paying compensation to those abused by the Post Office. It’s time the Post Office and the government were forced to Make Good: The Post Office Scandal.