Firm ‘not fit for purpose’ to administer any of the schemes
required to make amends in scandal
Business and Trade
Committee publishes report on securing fair, full and fast
redress for Post Office Horizon scandal sub-postmasters
Post Office involvement in financial redress schemes should end
MPs set a ‘Mr Bates Test’ for forthcoming legislation of legally
binding timeframes to deliver redress to sub-postmasters
The cross-party Business and Trade Committee has today published its
recommendations for delivering faster and fuller payments to
Horizon scandal victims following an “abject failure” of
delivering redress to date.
The report recommends ending the Post Office’s involvement in any
redress programmes, labelling it as “not fit for purpose to
administer any of the schemes required to make amends”. It cites
both victims’ lack of confidence in the firm that “ruined the
lives of innocent sub-postmasters” and its chaotic leadership.
The Committee calls on the Government to create a “properly
resourced” independent intermediary that would offer legal and
forensic accounting services to victims to ensure victims are
equipped with all the facts and figures they need to secure fair
redress and compensation.
Committee Chair said:
“Justice delayed is justice denied. And bluntly justice has been
denied to our innocent sub postmasters for far too long. It's
high time for the circus of recent weeks to end and for cheques
to start landing on the doormats of innocent victims.”
“We now know the Post Office knew of problems twenty years ago.
Yet at best, only £1 in £5 of the budget for compensation has
been issued. That is a national disgrace.”
“The spectacle of the battle between the Post Office chief
executive and its former chairman light up a simple truth; that
the top of the Post Office is in utter disarray and not fit for
purpose to run the payouts to former sub-postmasters. It’s
involvement in running Post Office redress schemes has to end and
ministers must create a new, independent body set up that will
genuinely help victims through their every stage of their
compensation claims.”
Five years on from the landmark court case victory by former
sub-postmasters led by Alan Bates over the Post Office, only 20%
of funds set aside for redress have been spent. Many cases have
been stalled by the Post Office’s sluggish disclosure mechanisms.
To stop “unacceptable delays”, the report says strict deadlines
by which each stage of the redress process will be delivered for
each case should be legally-binding. Fines for delays should be
paid to claimants, it adds.
Mr Byrne added, “To guarantee this scandal drags on no longer, we
have to enshrine into law an idea proposed by Mr Bates, of
legally binding timetables for payouts. Any new Bill that the
Government presents to parliament, must now pass the ‘Mr Bates
Test’ of legally binding timeframes for settling justice.”
“Finally, we have to make sure that fast compensation is fair
compensation. Otherwise, we risk innocent sub-postmasters to face
a new prison of poverty. We cannot and must not let that happen.”
Other measures recommended by the report include removing a cap
on legal expenses for sub-postmasters and a standardised set of
tariffs to help victims to better estimate what they are entitled
to.
