The government has launched a new compensation scheme for victims of the Post Office Horizon computer systems scandal.
Rishi Sunak, the chancellor of the exchequer, has unveiled a scheme that will ensure the postmasters who were the first to take legal action against the Post Office will be compensated fully and fairly; many of those postmasters had to pay a large chunk of their share of the 2019 £43mln pay-out in legal fees to Therium, the law firm that took on the case on a “no win, no fee” basis.
READ How the Post Office wrecked the lives of its own workers
The computer systems scandal saw postmasters hounded by the Post Office, which claimed that they owed the company money, whereas the apparent shortfall on the books was caused by faults in the Post Office’s Horizon computer system.
More than 700 postmasters were convicted between 2000 and 2015, with several serving prison terms, while the scandal was also linked to four suicides. The Court of Appeal subsequently quashed the convictions of postmasters who were wrongly accused of committing crimes.
The Post Office chair, Tim Parker, announced plans to quit last month days before an inquiry into the company's IT scandal kicked off. Meanwhile, Paula Vennells, the Anglican priest who was chief executive officer of the Post Office throughout the Post Office's aggressive legal action against innocent postmasters, was awarded a CBE in 2019 for services to the Post Office and to charity.
“The Horizon IT dispute has had a devastating impact on postmasters and their families, with many losing their livelihoods or being wrongly convicted for crimes they didn’t commit,” Sunak said.
“Without the efforts of these postmasters, this terrible injustice may have never been uncovered so it is only right that they are compensated fully and fairly.
“That is why we have set up this new compensation scheme for those who played a crucial role bringing this scandal to light, which I hope provides a measure of comfort,” he added.