Paula Vennells

Paula Anne Vennells, (born 1959), is a British businesswoman and Anglican priest. She was chief executive officer of Post Office Limited from 2012 to 2019. Under her leadership, the Post Office prosecuted hundreds of subpostmasters for fraud, despite knowing that the relevant financial discrepancies actually arose from computer errors for which the Post Office was responsible. According to Channel 4 and the BBC, this matter is the biggest miscarriage of justice in British history.

In 2019 she became chair of the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in London but in December 2020 left this role early. In April 2021, following the quashing of 39 of the sub-postmasters’ convictions, she resignedunder pressurefrom her duties as an Anglican priest, and from directorships at retailer Dunelm and at supermarket chain Morrisons.

Early life and education

Vennells was born in 1959, and grew up in Denton, Lancashire. Having won a funded place, she was educated at the Manchester High School for Girls, an all-girls private school in Manchester. She then studied Russian and French at the University of Bradford, graduating in 1981 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree.

Career

Vennells began her career as a graduate trainee at Unilever in 1981. She went on to work for L'Oréal, Dixons Retail, Argos, and Whitbread.

In 2007, she joined the Post Office as group network director. On 1 April 2012, she became its chief executive officer (CEO). During her time as CEO, the Post Office went from losing £120 million a year to making a profit.

In February 2019, it was announced that she would step down from her Post Office role (she was eventually succeeded by Nick Read) and in April that year took over as chair of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, which runs St Mary's, Hammersmith, Queen Charlotte's, Charing Cross and the Western Eye Hospital in north-west London. She also became a non-executive board member of the Cabinet Office.

From 2002 to 2005, Vennells trained for Holy Orders on the St Albans and Oxford Ministry Course. She was ordained in the Church of England as a deacon in 2005 and as a priest in 2006. She has served as a non-stipendiary minister at Church of St Owen, Bromham in the Diocese of St Albans. She was reported to have 'stepped back' from duties in 2021. Her membership of the Church of England Ethical Investment Advisory Group was also terminated.

Post Office scandal

In December 2019, the Post Office paid out £58 million to sub-postmasters who were awarded compensation for past false prosecutions of monetary theft that had been based on faulty evidence from the Horizon IT system. The judge presiding on the case, Mr Justice Fraser, described the Post Office's approach to the case as "institutional obstinacy" that

Vennells subsequently apologised to workers affected by the scandal, saying:

In January 2020, as the High Court case against the Post Office ended, Vennells's tenure as CEO was strongly criticised by Conservative peer Lord Arbuthnot, who said: "The hallmark of Paula Vennells' time as CEO was that she was willing to accept appalling advice from people in her management and legal teams. The consequences of this were far-reaching for the Post Office and devastating for the subpostmasters. However, there seem to have been no consequences for her." He described the behaviour of the Post Office under her leadership as "both cruel and incompetent", and said that "she was faced with a moral choice and she took the wrong one, the one which allowed hundreds of subpostmasters to be falsely accused, humiliated and ruined by the organisation she ran".

In early March 2020, she resigned from her Cabinet Office position.

On 19 March 2020, Vennells was harshly criticised in the House of Commons, particularly by Kevan Jones, MP for North Durham, who said:

In a BBC
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