The Government is to fund interim compensation of up to £100,000
for each postmaster who has had their Horizon-related conviction
overturned.
The measure, announced to Parliament today, will ensure that
affected individuals are not left out of pocket as they and the
Post Office work toward full settlements for the immense hardship
postmasters have faced.
The Post Office is contacting postmasters and will aim to make an
offer for an interim payment within 28 days of receiving an
application from those whose overturned convictions relied on
Horizon evidence. If and when further such convictions are
quashed, those postmasters will also be eligible for the
payments.
Postal Affairs Minister
said:
“The suffering and distress these postmasters and their families
have gone through cannot be overstated.
“While nothing will make up for the years of pain they faced
after this appalling injustice, I hope this initial step provides
a measure of comfort.
“The Post Office has started to turn a corner in terms of dealing
with its past mistakes – and this Government will support them in
doing so wherever possible.”
The Post Office will continue to work quickly towards final
settlements to ensure these postmasters are fairly compensated
for the suffering and distress they have gone through.
The Government’s support comes in addition to the financial
backing it is providing for the Historical Shortfall Scheme. This
scheme was established by the Post Office to compensate
postmasters who had to cover shortfalls in their branch’s
accounts caused by the Horizon IT system, but were not
prosecuted.
The Government will continue to provide strong oversight of the
Post Office’s ongoing work to deliver full compensation to
postmasters.
Notes to Editors
For final compensation, Post Office is proposing Alternative
Dispute Resolution arrangements which aim to facilitate the swift
quantification and resolution of compensation claims. However,
interim payments announced today do not prevent people from
bringing civil claims through the Courts.
The Horizon accounting system, installed across Post Office
branches from the early 2000s, recorded shortfalls in cash in
branches.
These shortfalls were treated by the Post Office as caused by
postmasters, and this led to dismissals, recovery of losses by
Post Office Ltd and, in some cases, criminal prosecutions. The
Court of Appeal and Crown Court have since quashed numerous
convictions.
In May, the Postal Affairs Minister announced that
Government would put the independent inquiry into the Horizon
dispute on a statutory footing. The Inquiry will establish
exactly what went wrong at the Post Office and ensure something
like this cannot happen again.
The Post Office is contacting relevant postmasters through their
legal representatives.
