Alan Bates's 'kangaroo court' claims denied
Compensation for sub-postmasters is not being decided by a "kangaroo court", the body overseeing the payouts has said, pushing back against allegations made by Sir Alan Bates.
Sir Alan, who led the campaign for justice, said he had been made a "take it or leave it" offer that was less than half the amount he was claiming.
The "goal posts" had moved and claims had been "knocked back", he said, in ways he saw as unfair to sub-postmasters, many of whom have been waiting years for redress.
However, the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board has rejected his criticism, saying it was following a process agreed by Sir Alan, designed to resolve the outstanding cases.
Writing in the Sunday Times, Sir Alan had suggested the process was not following established standards, describing it as a "quasi-kangaroo court".
The board, made up of parliamentarians and academics, issued a statement on Tuesday saying: "We do not agree [with the criticisms]."
It said Sir Alan had been "closely involved" in setting up the process for deciding compensation, which included a final assessment from a "highly respected" judge.
"That was what happened in Sir Alan's case," the board said.
"It is only a 'take it or leave it' decision in the sense that at some stage the matter has to come to an end and someone has to decide, in order to bring fair closure to so many who have been harmed."
Between 1999 and 2015, more than 900 sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted after the faulty Horizon IT system indicated shortfalls in Post Office branch accounts.
Sir Alan led a group of 555 sub-postmasters who took part in the landmark group legal action against the Post Office.
Their fight for justice was brought to wider public attention last year by an ITV drama about the scandal, Mr Bates vs The Post Office.
The government went on to set up a specific compensation fund to ensure these sub-postmasters received extra money to reflect the gravity of their situations, but progress has been described as slow and many are still waiting for a payout.
Under the Group Litigation Order (GLO) scheme, claimants can either receive £75,000 or seek their own settlement.
Sir Alan said the latest offer made to him amounted to 49.2% of his original claim.
He said promises that compensation schemes would be "non-legalistic" had turned out to be "worthless".
Post Office offer amounts to just half of my claim, says Bates
Why were hundreds of Post Office workers wrongly prosecuted?
How do the Post Office compensation schemes work?
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Yahoo
Texas Approves $12 Million For Urgent Disaster Recovery Projects
Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham announced that $12 million in disaster recovery funds will be approved for infrastructure and housing projects across four Texas communities. The money comes from reallocated federal grants originally designated for previous disasters. The funding represents a last chance for cities still rebuilding from the 2015 floods. Federal deadlines loom for spending these disaster recovery dollars, creating urgency for communities with unfinished projects. 'Texans impacted by disasters deserve real solutions,' said Commissioner Buckingham. 'The GLO is making sure every dollar is put to work for the people who need it most.' Harris County will receive the largest share, with a $7.35 million split between Jacinto City and Tomball. Newton County secured $3.95 million for street and sewer improvements, while Brazoria was awarded $700,000 for sewer line replacement. The money comes through the Disaster Recovery Reallocation Program, which repurposes unused federal disaster funds. The Texas General Land Office received $1.4 billion in project requests but had only $140 million available across six disaster programs. Jacinto City's $6 million allocation addresses critical infrastructure needs from the 2015 flooding. The city will upgrade sewer lines, improve emergency communications systems, and enhance its wastewater treatment plant. Newton's projects focus on street repairs and sewer improvements in flood-damaged areas. Tomball will use its $1.35 million for channel improvements to reduce future flood risks. Federal regulations impose strict completion deadlines on these projects. Communities that fail to finish work on time must repay the funds to Washington. Still, the program offers vital support for Texas cities struggling with disaster recovery costs. The selected projects underwent rigorous eligibility reviews based on federal grant requirements and completion feasibility. That said, the funding falls far short of the requested needs. The $1.4 billion in submissions highlights the extensive damage Texas communities still face from multiple disasters spanning more than a decade.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
The man who orchestrated a British medical scandal
Joanne Briggs's debut, The Scientist Who Wasn't There, is an astonishingly original memoir about truth, identity and the ethics of science. It's thrilling, unsettling – and really rather odd. Winner of the inaugural Bridport Prize for Memoir in 2023, the award that cinched the book's publication, it explores the enigmatic – if not completely bizarre – life of Briggs's father, Professor Michael Briggs, a man whose illustrious, globe-trotting scientific career concealed a vast labyrinth of deception. Born in Manchester, Professor Briggs became a research scientist who worked at NASA, an advisor to the World Health Organisation, and a successful executive in the pharmaceutical industry. On paper, his was a classic rags-to-riches story: he was a self-made, charismatic visionary who surfed the post-war technology boom. But in 1986, his career imploded when a Sunday Times exposé linked him to the hormone pregnancy test Primodos, which worked by triggering menstruation in non-pregnant women, and was alleged to have caused serious birth defects. It seemed Professor Briggs had been faking results. Things get stranger. Professor Briggs not only appears to have forged his qualifications, laundered research funds and bullied sceptical colleagues and anyone who doubted him – he may also have been a spy. He appears to have worked for the British government, possibly connected to Cold War intelligence gathering; may have been involved in espionage in East Berlin, and then somehow got caught up in the making of Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey. His death abroad, aged 51, was so sudden that Briggs speculates that there may have been some kind of cover-up. What begins, then, as a daughter's ostensibly simple search for the truth about her absent father, soon becomes a forensic and yet also fantastical investigation – part legal inquiry, part philosophical meditation. A trained lawyer, Briggs approaches the evidence as a prosecutor would: poring over professional records, interviewing colleagues and meeting with the victims of her father's lies and misconduct. Primodos involved high doses of synthetic hormones and though the causal link has never been confirmed, women who used it reported children with defects such as spina bifida, limb abnormalities, and heart issues. Briggs reveals that her father manipulated or suppressed data about these effects while being professionally involved with the pharmaceutical company producing it. But the book is also wildly surreal: Briggs imagines conversations with her father in which they debate the boundaries between science and science fiction, and the book eventually resolves into musings and reverie. The overall effect, frankly, is dizzying – pleasantly so. Briggs often hints that she herself doesn't know the difference between fact and fantasy; in a rather cryptic, ambivalent author's note, she writes: 'My memory of the past is as much made up of dreams, impressions, false beliefs, fantasies, feelings and notions as it is of facts [...] which I hope makes my memoir authentic. But is that a true story? Well, yes, it is to me.' True or not, the book defies neat categorisation. It's certainly a book about a very peculiar, unsavoury man, but it's also a vivid depiction of a world in which ambition and imagination collide, with devastating human consequences. Briggs does, at various points, express deep moral ambivalence about writing the book: she wrestles with the ethics of exposing her father's legacy, particularly given the trauma already borne by his victims. She describes a childhood overshadowed by confusion, secrecy and emotional neglect, but also moments of awe and admiration for her father. Their relationship, as reconstructed here, was fraught and complex – marked more by absence than presence, but never entirely devoid of connection or longing. The Scientist Who Wasn't There is not only an indictment of one man's lies and deceit and his descent into moral oblivion, therefore, but a study of duplicity; personal, institutional, even national and international. Briggs slowly assembles a counterbalanced, complex kind of truth, one that acknowledges the impossibility of total objectivity but which nonetheless insists on the value of the attempt. 'He only ever travelled in one direction,' Briggs writes of her father. 'Forwards, away from the smoke of burning bridges.' She, in contrast, with admirable insight and considerable nerve, turns back – to sift through the still smouldering ruins. The Scientist Who Wasn't There is published by Ithaka at £20. To order your copy for £16.99, call 0330 173 0523 or visit Telegraph Books Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
"My voice wasn't heard": Lewis Hamilton meets Keir Starmer to drive education reform
Lewis Hamilton has met with the UK Prime Minister to discuss education reform, as the seven-time Formula 1 world champion furthers his commitment to his Mission 44 project. Hamilton, who last weekend finished sixth in the Spanish Grand Prix, joined a roundtable with Sir Keir Starmer and Secretary of State for Education Bridget Phillipson at 10 Downing Street to discuss how the UK government will work to support schools and pupils. It comes after Hamilton launched his own initiative in 2021 to develop a more inclusive future for young people around the world after admitting his own struggles during education. Hamilton launched the charity to help drive change and give access to children to pursue careers in STEM subjects at school and discussed a new framework for schools to increase pupil engagement so more young people are supported to achieve. Hamilton said: 'I struggled in school and never felt like my voice was heard, that's why I know first-hand that ensuring every student feels they belong in school is vital. Mission 44 'I'm grateful that off the back of this meeting, the government has committed to working with Mission 44 to enact change focused on making the education system more inclusive. I'm so proud of how far Mission 44 has come in such a short space of time and the opportunity we have to transform the lives of vulnerable students across the country.' In 2024, Hamilton said he has struggled with mental health issues for most of his life as a consequence of being bullied at school and the pressure of racing. Read Also: Lewis Hamilton claims F1 Spanish GP is "the worst race I've experienced" Lewis Hamilton 'nervous' to show other drivers the 'F1' movie he helped produce In an interview with the Sunday Times, he said: 'When I was in my 20s, I had some really difficult phases. I've struggled with mental health throughout my life. [I've had] depression. From a very early age, when I was, like, 13. I think it was the pressure of the racing and struggling at school. The bullying. I had no one to talk to.' During the F1 Miami GP, it was announced that Hamilton's Mission 44 was partnering with Ferrari title sponsors HP to provide young people in the UK and Miami with access to technology, training, digital skills, and mentorship, including a multi-year partnership to support two Miami-based organisations, which create career pathways and provide workforce development. To read more articles visit our website.
