Ministers ‘ignored warnings’ over Post Office Horizon compensation | Politics | News | EUROtoday

The Government has been accused of inflicting extra injustice on victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal by ignoring warnings a couple of flawed compensation scheme. Senior Labour MP Liam Byrne, chair of the Commons Business Committee, stated: “We have warned Ministers again and again that the Horizon redress scheme simply isn’t fair.”

He issued the scathing verdict after it emerged campaigner Sir Alan Bates had been supplied a “take-it-or-leave-it” fee of simply half of his authentic declare. Sir Alan was one in every of a whole bunch of sub-postmasters wrongly accused of dishonesty or incompetence after cash appeared to go lacking from their accounts when defective accounting software program was actually in charge.

Sir Alan warned that the subpostmaster compensation schemes have been became “quasi-kangaroo courts” and he was backed by Mr Byrne, a former Cabinet Minister, who stated his committee had warned Ministers “the scheme must be independent, faster and fairer.”

Mr Byrne stated: “Yet time after time, our advice was ignored, rejected and rebuffed. And so injustice lives on. The very system designed to deliver redress now delivers delay.

“Sir Alan’s case must be reopened. Our recommendations must be reconsidered. This scandal did more than wreck livelihoods. It broke lives. And justice – long delayed – must be denied no more.”

More than 900 subpostmasters had been prosecuted between 1999 and 2015 after Horizon accounting software program made it look as if cash was lacking from their accounts.

Many are nonetheless awaiting compensation regardless of the earlier authorities asserting that those that have had convictions quashed are eligible for £600,000 payouts.

The group litigation order (GLO) scheme was set as much as obtain redress for the 555 claimants who took the Post Office to the High Court between 2017 and 2019.

But Sir Alan, who was portrayed by actor Toby Jones in ITV drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office, stated guarantees that compensation schemes could be “non-legalistic” had turned out to be “worthless”.

The 70-year-old stated: “The subpostmaster compensation schemes have been turned into quasi-kangaroo courts in which the Department for Business and Trade sits in judgement of the claims and alters the goal posts as and when it chooses.

“Claims are, and have been, knocked back on the basis that legally you would not be able to make them, or that the parameters of the scheme do not extend to certain items.”

He has additionally referred to as for an impartial physique to be created to ship compensation schemes for this and comparable public sector scandals.

Sir Alan was knighted final yr for his companies to justice, having based the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance (JFSA).

Last month, he despatched an electronic mail to members of his group, calling on victims to take the Government to courtroom over delays to monetary redress, including {that a} judicial assessment would “probably be the quickest way to ensure fairness for all”.

It is known that 80% of postmasters in Sir Alan’s group have accepted a full and ultimate redress or been paid most of their supply.

A Department for Business and Trade spokesman stated: “We pay tribute to all the postmasters who’ve suffered from this scandal, including Sir Alan for his tireless campaign for justice, and we have quadrupled the total amount paid to postmasters since entering government.

“We recognise there will be an absence of evidence given the length of time which has passed, and we therefore aim to give the benefit of the doubt to postmasters as far as possible. Anyone unhappy with their offer can have their case reviewed by a panel of experts, which is independent of the Government.”