Victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal have been urged to take legal action against the government over compensation delays.
In an email to victims seen by Sky News, Post Office campaigner Sir Alan Bates suggested it would be November 2027 before all the claims are finished based on the current rate of progress.
He told them going to court was “probably the quickest way to ensure fairness for all”.
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Hundreds of sub-postmasters were wrongfully prosecuted for theft and false accounting after Fujitsu-made accounting software Horizon inaccurately generated financial shortfalls, making it appear money was missing from Post Offices across the UK.
Many other sub-postmasters were made bankrupt, suffered ill health and experienced relationship breakdowns as a result of the falsely generated shortfalls and how the Post Office, a state-owned company, responded.
‘Lawyers taking every opportunity to challenge’
Compensation claims are processed through schemes administered by the Department of Business and Trade (DBT).
Sir Alan said one scheme in particular – the group litigation order (GLO) scheme for the 555 people who successfully took legal action against the Post Office and exposed the scandal – was “a mess”.
“Advice on how to streamline and speed up the scheme which has been offered to the DBT by ourselves, your lawyers and even the DBT Select Committee is ignored out of hand with the feeblest of excuses,” he said.
The government disputed the forecast by Sir Alan that it would take until 2027 for all claims to be settled, and said it was “settling claims at a faster rate than ever before”.
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The problem was not unique to the GLO scheme, Sir Alan said, saying administration and application problems beset all four plans for victims impacted in different ways by the miscarriage of justice.
The majority of applicants have had “substantially undervalued offers” from the government, Sir Alan said.
“The DBT lawyers appear to be taking every opportunity to challenge figures when the DBT has already paid for your lawyers to test and verify the claims before they are submitted.
“It appears that the DBT will pay out the smaller claims of about 60 to 80% of value, but the larger, which form the bulk of the outstanding claims, are continually being fought by DBT’s lawyers.”
More information is regularly sought from the victim, which Sir Alan said was “obviously not available” and delayed compensation offers.
“They also seem to be reducing offers by 50% where a spouse is involved, and it seems they will use almost any other tactic to ensure that the DBT does not have to pay out what has already been verified before the claim was submitted.”
Citing figures from the department, Sir Alan’s email said 66 cases had been fully settled in the last six months, with 210 yet to be settled.
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The ‘quickest way to fairness’
Sir Alan suggested legal action was the “quickest way to ensure fairness for all”, though he acknowledged that “returning to the courts may seem to be a long haul”.
“There may be other options but the one which is repeatedly mentioned is a judicial review, not just for the GLO Scheme but to include all of the schemes to ensure there is parity in the way victims have, and are, being treated,” the email said.
A new legal action may be appropriate for people who have accepted offers, Sir Alan said, “a new legal action may well be a way of having your claim reassessed once more, this time by the courts”.
Victims from each scheme would need to come forward to move the campaign on, Sir Alan said, as he urged people to “step up”.
A national fundraising campaign may be needed to cover the costs of this action, the email added, which Sir Alan said he may be able to help set up.
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Government ‘does not accept forecast’
Responding to Sir Alan’s suggestion it would take until 2027 to settle all claims, a government spokesperson said “we do not accept this forecast”.
“The facts show we are making almost 90% of initial GLO offers within 40 working days of receiving completed claims. As of 31 March, 76% of the group had received full and final redress, or 80% of their offer.”
“So long as claimants respond reasonably promptly, we would expect to settle all claims by the end of this year.
“We have trebled the number of payments under this government and are settling claims at a faster rate than ever before to provide full and fair redress.”
