Post Office scandal: Government has not done enough to ensure compensation for victims, committee of MPs finds

Sky News

7 hours ago

The government has not done enough to ensure all victims entitled to compensation from the Post Office scandal have applied for it, a report has found.
Many current and former postmasters affected by Horizon IT failings and associated miscarriages of justice are not yet receiving fair and timely compensation, according to the report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
Only 21% of the 18,500 letters the Post Office sent to postmasters to make them aware of the Horizon Shortfall Scheme had been responded to, figures provided by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) show. About 5,000 further letters are expected to be sent in 2025.
Long-time Post Office victims campaigner Sir Alan Bates told Sky News: "What is evident is that the PAC, along with ourselves, are dismayed about the length of time all this is taking and the failure of all victims to be contacted.
"It really only goes to support what I have been saying time and time again, that government departments are the entirely wrong people to run these types of schemes as they only grind them into the dust with bureaucracy."
Under the scheme, current and former postmasters who were financially affected by the Horizon IT system, but who were either not convicted or did not take the Post Office to the High Court, can either settle their claim for a final fixed sum of £75,000 or have it fully assessed.
There is also the Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme (HCRS), which is for sub-postmasters who had their convictions quashed after the passing of the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act last year.
The 800 or so sub-postmasters who are eligible to claim under the HCRS are entitled to a £600,000 full and final settlement, or the option to pursue a full claim assessment.
By the end of March, 339 had accepted the settlement sum, the report by the PAC, which is made up of MPs from all sides of the House of Commons, found.
But the PAC report states the government has no plans to follow up with people who are, or may be, eligible to claim but are yet to apply.
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The committee recommends that the DBT should outline what more it will do to ensure every affected postmaster is fully aware of their options for claiming.
A third scheme provides compensation to sub-postmasters who were wrongly convicted of fraud, theft and false accounting.
Of the 111 sub-postmasters eligible to claim for the Overturned Convictions Scheme and who are either entitled to a £600,000 full and final settlement, or to pursue a full claim assessment, 25 have not yet submitted a claim, some of whom represent the most complex cases.
The DBT has taken over the management of the scheme from the Post Office, and the PAC report recommends the department should outline how it plans to handle the remaining cases under the scheme.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, chair of the PAC, said thousands of people were "deeply failed" by the system during "one of the UK's worst ever miscarriages of justice".
He added: "This committee would have hoped to have found government laser-focused on ensuring all those eligible were fully and fairly compensated for what happened.
"It is deeply dissatisfactory to find these schemes still moving far too slowly, with no government plans to track down the majority of potential claimants who may not yet be aware of their proper entitlements.
"It is entirely unacceptable that those affected by this scandal, some of whom have had to go through the courts to clear their names, are being forced to relitigate their cases a second time."