A number of constituents have contacted me about the Post Office Horizon IT scandal and raised their concerns. I have watched all episodes of Mr Bates v The Post Office and I was shocked by what happened to these people and the treatment they received while and after this occurred. The harm that these prosecutions have wreaked on the affected families over the past 20 years is irreparable. Lessons should and will be learnt to ensure that injustice of this magnitude never happens again.
I was not an MP before 2015 when James Arbuthnot was campaigning on the issue and records from my predecessor as local MP were destroyed, as is protocol when a new MP starts, but it is my understanding that he wasn’t contacted by any sub-postmasters who were affected. For completeness have written to Post Office Ltd asking if any constituents have been affected. I will act on behalf of any constituent who contacts me who has been a victim and ensure that they receive justice and compensation.
While we cannot undo the damage that has been done, we must establish what went wrong. I am aware that nobody at either the Post Office or Fujitsu has been held directly accountable. However, in light of the rulings, the Government converted a public inquiry into the affair to a statutory footing which allows its Chair, Sir Wyn Williams, the necessary powers and time to conduct an in-depth analysis of the decision-making processes that led to the scandal. Sir Wyn has published his interim report, the public inquiry is still ongoing and is expected to be finished Spring/Summertime 2024. You can read Sir Wyn’s interim report here: https://www.postofficehorizoninquiry.org.uk/interim-report-compensation-17-july-2023
The Post Office (Horizon System) Compensation Bill will ensure that the trailblazers who exposed the scandal do not miss out on compensation because of an arbitrary deadline. The Government is determined to make compensation claims as soon as possible and by the current deadline of August 2024. However, time needs to be taken to assess more complex claims, so postmasters receive full and fair compensation and are not unduly rushed into making a decision on their claims.
To date, more than £148 million has been paid to 2,700 victims across all compensation schemes, 93 convictions have been overturned and, of those, 30 have agreed full and final settlements. Just over £30 million has been paid out in compensation to those with overturned convictions, including interim payments.
Of the original 555 courageous postmasters who took the Post Office to court and who first brought the Horizon scandal into the public eye, £27 million has been paid out to 477 claimants in addition to the net £11 million received through the December 2019 settlement. Forty-seven members of the original Group Litigation Order (GLO) group have also received compensation following the overturning of their convictions, totalling more than £17 million. The Government has received full claim forms from 59 of those postmasters who are eligible for the GLO scheme and issued 43 offers. There have been 21 full and final settlements paid and a further seven full and final settlements accepted. That brings the total number of accepted full and final GLO settlements to 28.
The Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has announced emergency primary legislation to quash the convictions of hundreds of postmasters who were wrongly prosecuted by the Post office plus the introduction of new payment of £75,000 for the GLO group.
The 2,417 postmasters who claimed through the original Horizon shortfall scheme have all received offers of compensation. Around 85 per cent have accepted those offers, worth over £107 million. In total, over £91 million has been paid out through the scheme, with the Post Office now dealing with late applications and with cases where initial offers were not accepted.
While the Government did consider removing the honours of Paula Vennells, former Post Office CEO, the Honours Forfeiture Committee advised the Government to wait until the end of the inquiry before making any decisions. As I am sure that you are aware now, Ms Vennells handed back her CBE on the 9th of January. The public inquiry is still ongoing, and she is expected to give evidence in the coming months.
On 16th January the Business and Trade Committee held a non-inquiry Oral evidence session, where they heard from Nick Read, Chief Executive of the Post Office, and Paul Patterson, Chief Executive for Europe at Fujitsu, the technology company that manufactured the Horizon computer system at the heart of the scandal. Kevin Hollinrake, the Government minister responsible for the Post Office, and Alan Bates the former sub-postmaster who successfully fought a claim against the Post Office. You can watch the session here.
The Government is continuing to work to ensure that the emergency legislation is passed as soon as possible so that all sub-postmasters receive the justice and compensation that they deserve. I will continue to follow the developments closely.