Simon Thompson (Royal Mail)

Simon Thompson
Born	1966or1967(age 57–58) [1]
Nationality	British
Occupation	Business executive
Title	Former CEO Royal Mail
Term	2021–2023

Simon Thompson (born August 1966) ^[2] is a British business executive, who has been the chief executive (CEO) of Royal Mail since January 2021.

Thompson's appointment as CEO was announced on 11 January 2021. ^[1] Thompson will receive a salary of £500,000, plus a pension of 13.6% of base pay (about £71,400 a year) and bonuses yet to be determined. ^[1]

Thompson, a non-executive director of Royal Mail since November 2017, was managing director of the Test &Trace App and has been chief product officer at Ocado. He has also worked at Apple, HSBC, lastminute.com, Morrisons and Honda Europe. ^{[1] [3]}

In May 2023, it was announced that Thompson would step down as head of Royal Mail. In the statement announcing his departure, Mr Thompson said he had been "incredibly proud to lead Royal Mail during this crucial period, and the changes made & negotiated have given Royal Mail a chance to compete and grow". ^[4] The Communication Workers Union had previously called for Thompson to step down.

An article by the Telegraph stated the Communication Workers Union "refused to acknowledge that there is even a need for modernisation, when the case for change is overwhelming" ^[5]

Criticism

In 2023, as Royal Mail’s CEO, Thompson appeared twice before the UK parliament’s business, energy and industrial strategy select committee (BEIS). The first BEIS cross-party committee in January 2023, chaired by MP Darren Jones, heard testimony from Thompson and also from Dave Ward, the General Secretary of the Communication Workers Union on issues related to Royal Mail workers’ industrial action. ^[6]

In January 2023, Mr Thompson provided a detailed response to the Select Committee meeting, covering all questions raised during the hearing. ^[7]

Thompson appeared before the BEIS committee for a second time because he was recalled by MPs who felt he had not given “wholly correct” answers at his first appearance. ^{[8] [6]} Thompson’s second appearance was also noteworthy due to the fact that Darren Jones had deemed it necessary that Thompson, Royal Mail’s chair Keith Williams, and operations development director Ricky McAuley all swear an oath to tell the truth before the committee under a warning of contempt of parliament and a “potential perjury.” ^{[8] [6]}

Summing up the session, Jones was quoted in The Guardian as suggesting a common theme among answers given to the committee by Thompson and his two associates: “We have rogue posters, rogue managers, we have isolated incidents, we have a global pandemic, we have industrial action,” he said. “It is everyone else’s fault, nothing to do with me, guv [sic]." ^[9]

Upon stepping down the Telegraph reported that Thompson was bullied out by militant unions and was wrongly attacked as an enemy of the working man. ^[10]

Vindicated

In December 2023, the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) wrote to the Business & Trade Select Committee following concerns raised about personal date use. They concluded that there is insufficient evidence of misuse of personal information and were satisfied that Royal Mail had identified and rely on a lawful basis of use. ^[11]

As a result of public concerns raised to the Business & Trade Select Committee, in January 2024 OFCOM published their report on Royal Mail Quality of Service. They concluded that “in the evidence we assessed, we did not identify any suggestion that Royal Mail’s Senior Management had directed the prioritization of parcels over letters outside of recognized contingency plans”. ^[12]

Pre-Industrial Action

The Times reported that during 2021, Thompson had hardly put a foot wrong, overseeing a period of strong growth for the company alongside progress in modernization its antediluvian labour practices and growing its share price by 55%. ^[13]

References

1. Makortoff, Kalyeena (11 January 2021). "Royal Mail appoints Simon Thompson as chief executive". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
2. "Simon THOMPSON personal appointments - Find and update company information - GOV.UK". find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
3. Kleinman, Mark (10 January 2021). "Royal Mail picks Thompson as CEO to deliver transformation plan". Sky News. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
4. "Royal Mail boss Simon Thompson to step down". BBC News. 12 May 2023. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
5. Marlow, Ben (29 March 2023). "Royal Mail workers are living in a 1970s dream world". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 20 June 2024.
6. Lawson, Alex (17 March 2023). "Royal Mail CEO accused of 'incompetence or cluelessness' by MPs". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 5 May 2023.
7. Thompson, Simon (22 February 2023). "Letter to the Chair from the Royal Mail, 20 February 2023". UK Parliament Committees.
8. "Royal Mail boss Simon Thompson accused of giving 'inconsistencies' in evidence to MPs". Sky News. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
9. Sweney, Mark (22 February 2023). "Royal Mail boss blames rogue managers for tracking devices on workers". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 5 May 2023.
10. Marlow, Ben (10 May 2023). "Royal Mail's boss was bullied out by militant unions". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 7 May 2024.
11. Prendeville, Owen (21 December 2023). "committees.parliament.uk-documents". UK Parliament Committees.
12. Enforcement Team, Ofcom (9 January 2024). "Investigation into Royal Mail's quality-of-service performance in 2022/23". Ofcom.
13. Hosking, Patrick (28 December 2021). "In a year of big challenges and setbacks, we needed all the heroes we could get". The Times . ISSN   0140-0460 . Retrieved 7 May 2024.