The composition of Post Office Ltd.’s Board of Directors includes two active postmasters, elected to Non-Executive Director (NED) positions by their peers across the postmaster and strategic partner community. This valuable addition to the Board is intended to ensure that the views of postmasters are considered at the highest level of decision making.
Elected by their peers, Postmaster NEDs each hold their seat for a three-year term, and this article outlines the election and appointment process that the candidates follow.
Candidate submissions
Before the end of the current Postmaster NED term, Post Office Ltd. issues a ‘Call for Candidates’ communication through its official communication channels, being clear about the criteria and the window of time during which submissions can be made.
External shortlisting
Once the submission window has closed, eligible candidate profiles are forwarded to a third-party recruitment agency for independent review.
The agency looks at competencies against the published skills required and will typically recommend up to 12 of the highest- scoring candidates for progression to interview based on this assessment.
Candidates are notified of the outcome of this stage.
Competency interview
An Independent Panel of three, with retail, recruitment and government body expertise, conducts a competency-based interview with the shortlisted candidates, at the end of which, the six highest scoring candidates are put forward for pre-election vetting.
The unsuccessful candidates are advised that they have not made the shortlist in this initial review and made aware that if any of the shortlisted candidates withdraw or are retired from the process through vetting, they may be invited to continue to the next stage
External vetting
A specialist independent service provider conducts financial and probity due diligence for the six preferred candidates. These checks include:
- The Disqualified Director Register.
- The Bankruptcy and Insolvency Register.
- The Removed Trustees Register.
- The FCA’s Financial Services Register.
- Interests for any conflicts.
- The internet for adverse content.
- Social media for adverse content.
Any candidate that does not pass the vetting stage is thanked and steps down from the election process. The open position is then opened to the next highest scoring candidate from the original shortlist, and invited to proceed through vetting and, if that stage is passed, to the interview stage.
All the candidates who successfully pass vetting, are then put forward for election.
Election
The election process is run independently by Civica Election Services with candidate profiles and secure voting accessed through their digital election platform. A postal vote option is made available to those unable to access the candidate profiles or complete the vote electronically.
Civica is responsible for all communications about the election, and the issuing and management of the secure voting process. Post Office Ltd. has no access to the voting system. The electronic voting window is open for three weeks. Postal vote guidance to ensure that postal votes are received within deadlines are also clearly communicated by Civica.
Post Office Ltd. does promote the election process to create awareness, as well as advertising the voting window through its standard postmaster and strategic partner communication channels. If requested, Post Office Ltd will also work with representative bodies to invite candidates to participate in any hustings they wish to run in the lead up to the vote.
Once voting is complete, Civica confirms the results to Post Office Ltd., and the two candidates with the highest votes are then recommended for appointment. This is subject to further due diligence and, at the final stage, the approval of Post Office Ltd.’s shareholder.
Post Office Ltd. due diligence
The two candidates with most votes are verified through Post Office Ltd.’s own financial and probity checks. These are made up of:
- Director-level background checks – conducted by Experian.
- An assessment of any conflicts of interest.
- HMRC Fit and Proper Test (the application for which is made on appointment).
Due to the nature of POL’s business, Directors are also required to hold the following two licenses, the application for which also includes several due diligence checks:
- A Vehicle & Operator Services Agency License.
- A Security Industry Authority Licence.
Taking up seats
Postmaster NEDs operate on a rolling appointment basis to ensure that there is some business continuity through change. Announcements of the results are made to the postmaster and strategic partner community via Post Office Ltd.’s official postmaster and strategic partner communication channels.
At this point, the Postmaster NEDs begin a comprehensive and detailed onboarding programme to ensure that they can be as effective as possible in their roles.